I'm your Madness
by Tabby Phobos
Summary: As usual, rating for swearing and violence. Sequel to Love never Dies, Hatred never Sleeps With the world's leaders dropping like flies, the crew finds themselves in a knotted case they never imagined would take place.
1. Time warp

A/N: Hello again, everyone, it's me again! Well, I still seem to be going strong, eh? That's okay. I'll lose more people here, and maybe gain some more. Part of growing. Sorry, I'm rambling. Anyway. What's gonna happen here? Well, as usual, shounen-ai, shoujo-ai, het, vulgarity, innuendo, and VIOLENCE. Lots of violence. More violent that "Love never Dies, Hatred never Sleeps". Thus the rating. Anyway, yes, most of this will be exploring normal lives and such, but there is a plot and it IS a mystery. I've been thinking about this one for quite some time, but it's not exactly all planned out and such. Yeah. Like I said, I would NOT do anything with the soundtracks except define it here for you all. Hmmm… Kotani Kinya is good… some Two Mix as well… Alanis Morissette is awesome and kind of happy-ish but not… and Malice Mizer to appeal to the darkness… and Tatu just because I love them so! ^^ All right! Any other things I should let you know about… I don't think so. Well, let's get it started!

~*~

A hand reached out to turn on the water for the shower; the body connected to it shivering in the somewhat chilly air of the man's bathroom causing goose bumps to form on his fair skin. Aoi Jun glanced about his small bathroom, and shook his head at his own foolishness. There was no chance that there was anyone else in his bathroom. He felt the water that ran out of the showerhead and was pleased with the temperature, stepping into the torrent of hot water. He sighed deeply and closed his dark blue eyes, letting go of all the tension in his body to give way to the pounding of the water. But still, his mind was not at ease.

Just an hour ago, the Nadesico had Boson Jumped from the long-lost planet of Ninlan to the ruins of the Satsuki Midori colony at Lagrange Point 2. A distress signal had been sent out, requesting some sort of response, which was met by silence for over an hour. Captain Misumaru Yurika wanted to wait a little while longer before heading for Earth alone, but Jun wanted a shower and had excused himself to do so. It was not only the thoughts of going home, but his actions on Ninlan that had tormented the Executive Officer.

It was nearly three weeks later, and Jun still couldn't believe that he had killed Nergal CEO and Aestivalis pilot, Akatsuki Nagare. He wrapped his arms around his torso and bowed his head, letting the still-warm water pour into his ragged, now chin-length dark blue hair. He hadn't killed in cold blood, though he did not care very much for the longhaired cocky man, but he also hadn't killed him in self-defense, with Akatsuki pinned down and immobile at the time. After all, it's not as if Akatsuki wanted to be possessed by the angry God of Spirit, Magus, either. It wasn't his choice, so where was Jun's actions justified?

What's worse, not a single person blamed him for what he did. Not even Yurika, who had been romantically involved with Akatsuki for some time, and had broken it off with him a few weeks before the fight that had led to Akatsuki's death. Yurika was still sad, yes, and it hurt Jun to know that he caused that, but Jun would have rather that the woman was angry with him, yelled at him, blamed him, than just accepted it as an incident that had only happened, and not been anyone's fault. She accepted that while she still believed that Akatsuki wasn't all that awful, he HAD been possessed, and would have killed them all, pinned down or no. Everyone else had agreed and had already tried to raise Jun's spirits on the matter. He had saved them, they said. He should be happy, or at least not as depressed as he was. But still, he was.

The water ran cold, making Jun grimace. He hated cold. He reached up and touched the showerhead, knitting his eyebrows as he touched it lightly with the warm calmness that was his magic, making the water warmer and much more comforting. But even with that small advantage, Jun withdrew his hand quickly, holding it against his chest. As useful as this power over fire was, as comforting as it was to feel it in him, it was horrible. He hadn't killed Akatsuki with his hands, no; he used the one thing that seemed to hold his happiness.

'I killed him with my own happiness.' It was something of a depressing thought, to know that something that made you happy stole the life of another. Jun quickly washed up to stop thinking in this direction. He had to get back to the bridge after all, and he'd rather go back and not be in tears. He stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around his body, securing it before he reached for his hairbrush. Just before wrapping his fingers around the handle, his communicator flared to life and a window showing the only male cook on the ship popped up, scaring the living crap out of Jun and making him almost drop, not only his hairbrush, but his towel as well. He glared at the image before him and gripped the fabric that covered his body tightly. "Akito, Flamma-dammit, what do you want?!?" he near-snarled at the Martian man in the window, flushing with embarrassment at what could have just happened.

Tenkawa Akito pushed his glasses up his nose before crossing his arms defensively. "Touchy, are we? PMSing much? I just wanted to make sure you weren't randomly trying to depress yourself into an oblivion like usual, Aqua! Besides, it's your own damn fault for putting your communicator in the bathroom. Not that I wouldn't have enjoyed the sight. My timing sucks, it seems." Akito's smirk made Jun grow at least three shades redder. At the mention of depressing himself, though, Jun looked away, feeling a little ashamed for being caught in the act. Akito sighed as he realized that he did, in fact, find Jun doing just as he suspected. The Executive Officer really needed to stop being so predictable. "Ju~un… How many times do we have to tell you? It's not your freaking fault! If you hadn't have killed him, I would've instead! Hell, I'm a little sorry you beat me to it. Now will you PLEASE stop making yourself all sad about it?"

Jun sniffed, feeling his eyes well up. "Dammit. I didn't want to cry." Passing a hand over his eyes, he wiped the tears away before they could birth more. "Akito, you just don't understand. How could you live everyday knowing that someone isn't here anymore, isn't ALIVE anymore because of you?"

"Jun, you know just as well as I do that Magus would have killed us if we let Him use Akatsuki anymore."

"I know that! But does that mean that Akatsuki wanted to die?" Jun grabbed his brush and started yanking it through his hair, not giving any reluctance against the pain that the pulling to his scalp brought.

Akito sighed again. Sometimes there was just no getting through to this guy. He pulled off the white handkerchief that he had tied around his head to keep his hair away from his cooking and to absorb the sweat of the too-hot kitchen. "Jun, you told me he confessed to you that he was in love with Yurika. You remember that? Magus wanted to kill Yurika the most. Akatsuki would have never wanted to kill Yurika, whether it was by his own doing or of someone else's, using his hands. He's probably happy you killed him before he could do the one thing that would have brought him the only thing worse. Living through a pain that hurts more than death itself."

Jun bowed his head, and for a moment, his dark hair obscured his face from Akito's view. A soft response came from the older man, however. "Akito, I need a hug."

Akito understood. Jun felt like he was the only person in the world, and talking to someone over a communications window never did anything to help that feeling. "Why don't you head on up to the bridge, then? Yurika will give you a hug, I'm sure of it." Jun nodded, and Akito smiled once again. "And for Aqua's sakes, put some clothes on first. We don't need all of the crew drooling on the floor today." The joke spawned a now-rare smile from the Executive Officer. Akito grinned and raised a hand to make a small wave. "Later, Junny." The window clicked away.

Jun still couldn't believe that his friend would make jokes about how at least their group had concluded that Jun was definitely one of the most sought-after-for-sex people on the ship at a time when Jun felt like crap. But it certainly helped.

~*~

A smirk formed on Kazamo Itsuki's face as she glanced over to her lover, who was running her hand through her two-colored hair. "So, Ryoko, care to tell me just what exactly caused you to beat down my door and demand that you hide in here, which led to us having a nice round of sex?"

Subaru Ryoko returned the woman's smirk as she rolled onto her stomach, fully aware that Itsuki's purple blanket wasn't covering her body sufficiently, should someone decide it's time to talk to them. "Hikaru discovered a book in Izumi's library on ostriches, namely their mating rituals. I didn't want to sit through an hour of giggling about big-ass birds that could fucking kill someone if they wanted to."

"Emphasis on fucking, I expect. And that whole bit probably turned you on. Maybe we should get a hold of a documentary on it. Big Bird Porn!"

Ryoko rolled her eyes. "Please. If I wanted Sesame Street porn I'd pay Hikaru to dig up the right places. Terra, she scares me sometimes." Ryoko fell silent, not even laughing at her understood joke. The thought of the mating habits of two fairly large birds brought back the queasy feeling she had had earlier, thus the running to her girlfriend's dorm room. The queasy feeling that had come from the act of Boson Jumping an entire ship halfway across the solar system. She laid her forehead on her folded arms, and sighed deeply. Not even raging sex from her girlfriend could get rid of the implications of the act.

Itsuki flopped onto her side and propped her head up on one hand, running her other hand through her long violet hair. "Ryoko, what's Jumping like?"

Ryoko faced her lover with a solemn look. "Well, you see a color, then it's all dark, like the lights are cut off, you know? And then it lightens up a bit with this odd… color. I don't even know how to describe it, it's that weird. Next thing you know, you feel this tingly tug on your stomach, like you're getting punched or like you have to puke. And then your mind just kind of flashes on all the places you've been, heard about, seen, whatever. And at all times of you life, kind of like seeing your life flashing before your eyes. It's really hard to focus on only one of them, you know? But when you do, all the light comes back in a flash and the tug on your stomach stops and you're free to barf all you want."

Itsuki stopped combing out her hair to run a thumb over Ryoko's lips, never to wear anything but air on them. "I had no idea that you would get motion sickness, Ryoko-chan." Ryoko growled, biting the thumb in response. Itsuki pulled back, rubbing the barely injured thumb. "Now that wasn't very nice Ryoko. How do you expect me to be able to play violin properly without my bow-thumb, hmm?"

"Do it with your feet."

"Well, that may be your most inner sexual fetish, but some of us like the use of all of their limbs, thank you." There was a heavy pause indicating a sudden switch in topic.

Ryoko punched the pillow, her black eyebrows knit in confusion. "Of all people, why me? Why did Miss Fressange have to pick me to Jump the ship?"

Itsuki sat up, reaching down to the floor for her bra and fastening it once again on its rightful place on her body. "Well, maybe she was trying to see if talent was a nanomachines-thing. Akito's the best Jumper, as far as we know, and Hikaru's the best mage, and you're the best pilot."

Ryoko shook her head. "Itsuki, the day I met you, you almost died. Why? Because you were about to be Jumped along with the Jovian robot. Earthlings can't Jump. No basketball jokes, please, as we all know I could kick your ass in THAT particular sport. But how is it possible that I COULD Jump us here?"

Itsuki shrugged. "Maybe it IS a nanomachine-thing, Ryoko. Why so worked up about it?"

Ryoko sat up and glared at her lover, not bothering to attempt dressing at the moment. "Well, Itsuki, it's only the small little detail of the fact that I could have DIED if it didn't work!"

"But Miss Fressange would not have let that happen. We both know that."

"She let Akatsuki die, didn't she?" This last retort was whispered, barely carrying the fierce tone that Ryoko gained when she was determined to win an argument. A tone Itsuki had heard often in the past few months.

Itsuki reached over to rub the tomboy's back. "Ryoko, you know that has nothing to do with this. What happened to Akatsuki was an accident, a problem that needed to be righted, and was. Miss Fressange isn't cold-blooded. If she were, she'd never survive with Izumi. She wanted you to do it because she knew you could, obviously." She leaned over to lay a kiss on Ryoko's temple. "I would have worried if I knew what was going on at the time. Magus knows I know what it's like to be on the edge of death, doing something that could bring you to the gates of hell. But I didn't know, Ryoko. And you're all right. A little empty-stomached, but that's nothing that our little Martian friend won't fix. And you know me, no reason to cry over spilt milk. Well, most of the time at least," she whispered into her lover's black and green hair, remembering the first few weeks of their contact and how Itsuki had been apologizing constantly for her latest attempts to win her over. Was that only a few months ago? "You're alive, and we're about three days' flight from home. What more is there to it?"

Ryoko smiled softly, one that defined her true gender, rather than the somewhat masculine smirk that seemed to mirror her girlfriend's flirtatious one. "Nothing, I suppose." She turned her head to kiss Itsuki, giving silent thanks for her concern, or lack thereof.

~*~

'Two hours. Two hours and no response from Earth, the moon, Mars, OR Jupiter!' Shiratori Yukina bunched her hands into her shoulder-length auburn hair. With their main Communications Officer Megumi Reinard taking up residence on Ninlan, the Jovian girl was now in charge of all of her duties. Not to her pleasure, as much as she enjoyed the job. But she had no idea how freaking tedious it was to just sit and wait for something that was so important, but so far away. Yukina was starting to wonder if the message they were waiting for would take days to be received, when they could be using this precious time to go to Earth, rather than wait around to figure out when in the timeline of the universe they were in.

A short trio of beeps brought Yukina from her near-raving trance. She gripped the headset with her right hand as the other flew across her console, pushing buttons. "Incoming message, Kanchou!" she reported. "Ship has been identified as one of Earth's, but I can't read its code." She squinted once more before turning to her right. "Ruri?"

Hoshino Ruri calmly placed her hands on the console before her, making it light up with a bright white light. "I'm on it." A few moments passed, short moments, before Ruri opened her pale mouth again to report the findings. "NG-SF-23T is the communications code."

Yurika, on the top level, nodded. "Yukina, patch us through." Yukina nodded and did so.

"Hello there, Kanchou. You're certainly one face I never thought I'd see again."

Yurika's jaw dropped. "Erina?"

Erina Kinjo Won closed her brown eyes and smirked. "Didn't expect to see me at first either? How sad. We thought you would never show up. We've been looking for you, you know." She pushed a lock of her black hair behind her shoulder. It had gotten much longer since their last encounter at Mars North Pole, back in March.

"Looking for us?" asked Yurika. Well, that proved one thing: it WAS the future. "Erina, where are you? What is the date?"

One corner of Erina's painted mouth turned up. "Well, Captain Misumaru, we are on the ND-005, Gardenia. The ship created for two purposes, to find the Nadesico and take care of any rebels still running loose from the war, still thinking it's going on." Erina nodded before making her next statement. "Of course, our Captain has informed me that she'd like to have some of the crew of the Nadesico visit the ship before we begin escorting you back to Earth. After all, you all are famous nowadays." Before Yurika could open her mouth again, the window clicked away, and a map of where the Gardenia was sitting was shown.

Yurika scowled at first, but her expression softened. "Just like an Akatsuki, using logic and flattery to get their own way." She sighed, and closed her green eyes, willing herself to not think about her late lover and to contemplate about whom she should take to the Gardenia. The group needed to be small, must include her, but she needed some others as well, for many different reasons. Explaining, saving their conscience, and just to check out the ship itself. Suddenly, she had it. She straightened as she announced, "Okay, Jun, Akito, Ryoko, Miss Fressange, Ruri, and I will take the Hinagiku over to the other ship. Until we come back, the Nadesico won't go ANYWHERE. It could still be a trap." Her instincts screamed at her that it may be so, and this time she was going to follow those instincts.

Goat Hory, Head of Security, furrowed his brow at the young captain. "Kanchou, we need Aoi-san to take your position when you head over there. He can't go." As soon as he said the words, he wished he could take them back, no matter how true they were. Yurika and Jun were definitely the most unstable emotionally since the battle on Ninlan, and he made them both solemn about this development.

Itsuki popped up almost instantly from the bottom level to the top. "Now, now, Mr. Hory, Jun-chan and Kanchou aren't the ONLY ones capable of keeping people in line. I may be a simple pilot, but I HAVE taken some Strategic Simulation classes while I was in Pilot's School. I'll gladly take over for them. Besides," she dropped to a somber whisper, "we both know Jun NEEDS to talk to Erina." Goat sighed in resignation. It wasn't a smart move, but the female head of Mugendai Industries was right. Jun needed to apologize and start repenting, if his performance was to improve any. So, despite his better judgment and the silent animated arguments coming from the ship's accountant, Viktor Bros, he nodded.

As Itsuki stepped up to the captain seat and sat down, and as the named people headed in the direction of the hangar bay to leave on the Hinagiku, Viktor fisted his hands on his hips and glared at Goat. "What the hell is the matter with you? You just handed control over the ship to one of the irresponsible PILOTS, for Christ's sakes. Not to mention on of the heads of Mugendai, a rival company to Nergal! What's to say she won't blow up the Gardenia, let alone the Nadesico? Can't you even imagine the economic losses both companies would suffer?" Before he could pull out his calculator to figure the exact numbers of this suffering, Itsuki spun the swivel chair to face them both.

"That's very rude of you, Mr. Prospector. Didn't I come back to the ship with Jiro when we took over? Trust me, I'm definitely dedicated to the Nadesico and the crew, despite it being the work of a rival company. And I won't kill Erina in cold blood, okay? The competition is fun, and we have no need to wipe her out. And we aren't the ruthless Nergal family, thank you very much!" She spun back, her face flushing with anger. "Not to mention that my own lover is going to be on that ship. No reason for me to order it to be shot at."

Viktor scoffed, trying to come up with an argument against the girl. Goat chuckled. "I think you have been fully slapped in the face, Viktor." In response, Viktor punched Goat's arm before huffily stomping back to his seat.

~*~

It certainly was odd that all of those on the Hinagiku were somehow capable of using magic in some form. It was immediately understood that Ryoko would be the one piloting the shuttle, of course, but Akito was wondering if he had to do it anyway. It didn't help that the atmosphere was a bit unsettling. Erina had remarked that they were quite important, famous even, and that was compounded with the fact that Nergal had built an entire battleship just for getting rid of rebels, a small, yet tedious job, and for searching for the Nadesico.

"Detaching from the Nadesico," reported Ryoko, pulling the switch that did exactly that. Once the Hinagiku was separated from the ship and speeding on its way toward the fifth Nergal battleship, Yurika let out a sigh of apprehension.

Inez Fressange, Head Doctor and Scientist on the Nadesico, glanced at her fellow Martian female. "Is there something wrong, Kanchou? You seem a bit more nervous than usual. You certainly weren't this jumpy during the mutiny."

Yurika somehow made herself look quite innocent. "Why, Miss Fressange, I have no idea what you mean. I'm fine!" She gave a bright smile to assure Inez that she WAS fine, but the slight prick of sadness in the captain's green eyes gave away her true feelings. She was scared shitless, not to mention still upset. Nevertheless, Inez gave in and stopped hammering her. If Yurika would go to the extent to lie to a Nadesico crewmember, all of whom she seemed to trust with her very life, it really was something she didn't want any of them to discuss at that moment.

So, with a knowing smirk, Inez nodded. "Right, Kanchou." Before Yurika could respond to the obvious sarcastic remark, Ryoko reported that they had reached the Gardenia. Apparently it was closer than they had first assumed.

The silence did not leave, but the atmosphere changed with stepped out of the shuttle and onto the guest deck, from confusion to anticipation. Hopefully, they would receive the explanations that even Inez could not, or would not, give to them. Surprisingly enough, only Erina came to greet them, or at least by their sight. It wasn't all that unconventional for Nergal personnel to escort them to the higher-ups first, but captain or no, Erina WAS the higher-up. But the captain of the Gardenia could have been more polite and come to greet them. Yurika always did, but it may have just been her nature to be friendly.

"Took you long enough. It seems that we may have to do an overhaul of your systems, if the Hinagiku is so slow. I had no idea that it was, but maybe time and our extensive development on our ships has made me a little critical."

Inez rolled her eyes. "Erina, will you just tell us what this is all about, for Terra's sake?"

Erina glanced at her former lover before replying, "I cannot quite do so lightly. Much time has passed, if you can't tell. Maybe I can begin by formally introducing the Gardenia's crew?" With that, Erina walked off toward one of the elevators in the seemingly small hangar bay. She waited for the guests to follow before opening the elevator for them.

For what seemed the first contact in months, and it just may have been, Akito poked Yurika in the arm to get her attention. If it was one thing he loved about the Nadesico, it was the pure casual atmosphere that everyone upheld, despite who you were and what your job was. There was some sense that the Gardenia just wasn't the same in that sense. "Hey, Yurika," he whispered, "have you noticed how plain uncomfortable everything is on this ship?"

Despite the attempts of being out of hearing, Erina heard the comment plainly. "I assure you, while we may be a load more professional than the crew of the Nadesico, we still have some sort of outside life." Inez snorted. Erina turned her head to glare at the Martian doctor once again. "Problem, Inez?"

Inez chuckled. "Oh, none really. Just the idea of you having a life outside your work is outrageous and astounding." Erina's face screwed into a twisted mass, and the other two Martians were sure she was going to blow her top and scream at Inez. But, instead, Erina just sighed exasperatedly.

Erina announced, "We've arrived at the bridge." The doors opened to reveal a small, yet very developed area that would be put to good use ONLY as a bridge of a Nergal ship. It seemed similar to the Nadesico's bridge, only much more sleek and professional, for lack of better word. There were still three levels, but the bottom level was the smallest one, and obviously not used very much. The second level had two seats on the outside, and two on the inside. The two in the inside were not separated from each other as the other seats were by short walls that did not extend the entire level. The top level was almost exactly like that of the Nadesico, with a captain's seat in the middle, but with a bigger console. The XO's seat was not as important looking as Jun's, but still was impressive in comparison. All in all, the entire room looked to be much more useful and important than just a search and rescue vessel. But it was expected, as Nergal always did have a habit of going all out and showing off whenever they got the chance.

But in all the examining of the bridge, it seemed their eyes somehow slid off the crew, not to mention that the captain was nowhere to be found. Erina walked forward and stopped at the first console, the one, in reference to the Nadesico's bridge, where Megumi or Yukina would be sitting. Instead, a girl that seemed older than both of the Nadesico's Communications Officers sat there. "This is Iwasaki Mari," introduced Erina, " the Gardenia's Communications Officer. She used to be the seiyuu for Magical Princess Natural Laichi at Nergal Productions, but we decided to use her for this ship."

"Especially since, while I'm not QUITE as popular or well-voiced as our dear Megumi, I am close to second," spoke the brown-haired voice actress, with something of an egotistical smile on her face. "Nice to meet you all, finally, by the way."

"Mari-chan is the egomaniac as always…" came a slightly familiar voice from the upper level.

Mari scowled and plopped into her chair, crossing her arms over her somewhat small chest. "As if you weren't the most obsessed-with-self person on this ship, Saburota-san, not to mention the biggest playboy I have ever met." Small chuckling was shared with the Gardenia's crew, most of which came from Erina, surprisingly.

"You never really met my cousin then, Mari-san. Anyway, that is Takasugi Saburota, our Executive Officer."

"Please, Erina dear, I do my own introductions." Erina scowled and grumbled something that sounded like, "I'm not your dear, baka," before he continued. "Takasugi Saburota, formerly XO of the Kannazuki of the Jovian Empire, now I serve Earth and its colonies for the hell of it. And YOU would be the crew of the Nadesico, including the Captain Misumaru Yurika, who had once beaten my previous ship in a battle of wits, and also including a very magnificent looking Subaru Ryoko." He stood and swept them an elegant, Western-style bow. Yurika blushed slightly, to the exasperation of Akito and Jun.

"Yurika, I know you have a thing for chivalry, but this isn't the time," chided her childhood friend, and she shook her head. He was right. Jun smiled slightly at Akito in thanks.

Ryoko, on the other hand, crossed her arms and glared at the now-blond Jovian above them. "For us being so well known, I'm surprised you aren't aware of the fact that I DO have a girlfriend and all…" Saburota smirked at her before retorting, "Well, it seems that she's not with you, now IS she, Ryoko-san?"

"If I MAY continue without further interruptions, Takasugi-san!" interrupted the very annoyed helmswoman, intent on her previous effort. When the man sat down without another word, her red face toned down a bit. She stepped forward to the next section of consoles, the double ones in fact. It did not surprise the Nadesico crew that the two kids that seat in the seats that would have been the same as Ruri's WERE, in fact, children. But, instead, it was the young age of the boy and girl that astounded them. The youngest crewmember of the Nadesico was easily the Prince Notsumote Ariko, Ruri's little brother, topping out at eleven. These two kids looked about eight or nine.

"These are our Computer Operators. We need two because, while the Nadesico's computer will always be Asuka's greatest accomplishment, the Gardenia's computer is one of their complex ones, not to mention that Ruri is the best Computer Operator at our dispatch, thus the need for two to cover the work. Makibi Hari," the boy, being the farthest, stood and bowed first, "and Lapis Lazuli." The girl stood and bowed as well, only with more of a mechanical air than the boy. It was amazing how much her and Ruri looked alike, with their similar amber eyes and deathly pale skin. However, Lapis was horrendously younger than the silver-haired princess of Peaceland, and her own hair was more of a light pink or white than silver. She sat back down without saying a word.

Hari, on the other hand, had stood straight once again, his blue eyes full of wonder as he clasped his hands in front of him. "It's truly an honor to finally meet you, Ruri-sama. We've heard so much about you, it really, really is an honor." He bowed once again, obviously shaking with nervousness. Ruri sighed, truly flattered, but rolled her eyes. One admirer, whether he be human or robot, was more than enough as it was. She definitely didn't need two.

"Hari-kun, don't make her arrogant. Now, where on Earth is-" Erina didn't get to finish her sentence before the person she was about to ask about bounded out of the elevator and ran toward them, frightening some of the crew a bit. The purple-haired girl in question looked very much like Itsuki, to the point where it was unnerving, but her mere energy was enough to dispel any thought of this girl being the Music Mage of the Nadesico.

"Rika-chan??? Akito-kun??? Oh my God of Spirit, I haven't seen you in so long!" The woman hugged both Martians at the same time, almost knocking Yurika to the ground, and definitely knocking Akito's glasses askew. "How have you two been? Magus, it's been a long time! I haven't seen you two since I was eight! Have you been taking good care of Yurika, Akito? You better have! You two have always been made for each other, I know it! And here you are, together!" The woman ceased her uncontrollable babbling to give Yurika and Akito separate squeezes before actually looking over them fully. "Yurika, you haven't been sleeping well, have you? I can see the circles under your eyes! And Akito, when did you get glasses? Of course, your sight has always been pretty bad, but I never thought you'd resort to glasses! You seemed more of a contact sort of boy! Well, don't keep quiet! How are things on the domestic side? When's the wedding?"

Erina cleared her throat, causing the woman to look over at her. "Kaguya, darling, I think you're jumping a little ahead, don't you?"

Inez snorted. "'Kaguya, DARLING?' Feeling a little lonely here, Erina?" Erina shot a glare at the Martian doctor, but said nothing.

Kaguya immediately let go of Yurika and Akito and smiled brightly, a smile that could only be compared to Yurika's on a wonderful day. "Oh yes, of course. I might have scared you a bit, haven't I? Well, it's just been so long, and of course, knowing the loser I am, I have no life, so of course I'm going to obsess over a little playing between us three for over fifteen years, ne? But you never answered me. How have you been? How are things between the two of you?"

Akito reached up to fix his glasses, giving the woman called Kaguya a strange look. "Excuse me for asking, but who in the five hells are you?" Kaguya gave a pout before responding, but not answering, "Aw, Akito, you really don't remember me?"

"Kaguya, it's the memory glitch, remember?" said Erina, rubbing her temples, obviously put off by the acts of the woman that it seemed she was intimately involved with.

Inez snapped her fingers, as if immediately remembering something. "Of course! Is that the official name for it? Memory Glitch?" At Erina's nod, Inez began to pace, obviously about to explain something crucial about the appearance of the girl that looked like Itsuki, but seemed to know Akito and Yurika from childhood. "Remember when I lost my memory because of the shock of Jumping and wandering around the Martian desert? It was truly because of the act of Jumping. Boson Jumping makes an imprint in your mind, just as you have to use your mind to Jump in the first place. And since it deals with the time continuum and the timeline of the universe, it's capable of erasing key moments in your memory, even creating new ones in its place."

Yurika's jaw dropped and she turned to Akito, poking him in the arm. "The bike ride! Remember? From when we were in Limbo! There was a memory tile of us riding a bike together when we were kids, through fields of grass. I knew it wasn't a real memory because there were no fields of grass on Mars by the Utopia Colony!" Akito's memory certainly wasn't as good as Yurika's, but he nodded, despite this. "So what you're saying is-"

"You erased a year of memories and replaced it with a single afternoon of bike-riding over grass that didn't exist? I feel offended to say the least." Kaguya crossed her arms and stuck out her bottom lip, but her violet eyes still danced, happy that there was an explanation for the odd behavior from her childhood friends.

Erina cleared her throat again. "Well, since you don't remember her, allow me to introduce her once again. This is Onikirimaru Kaguya, Captain of the Gardenia, CEO of Asuka Industries, my own lover, and not to mention the only Martian that was never stationed on the Nadesico." Kaguya swept them a short bow before grinned to them again.

"Hah! I knew you two were sleeping together! She's just your type, too, Erina dear. Giving into your Martian fetish as usual," sniggered Inez maliciously. Ryoko's black eyebrows snapped together at her behavior. If one didn't know any better, that almost sounded like a comment of jealousy. But Inez was already romantically involved with someone, one of Ryoko's best friends and piloting partners, Maki Izumi.

Erina glared at her former lover. "If you're finished, I suppose we have things to discuss, don't you?"

Yurika's eyes widened and she pointed to Kaguya, suddenly realizing something. "You swore to Magus!"

Kaguya nodded, looking at her a little incredulously. "Of course I did." She raised her right hand. Sure enough, there was the silver nanocontroller, sparkling only silver, and no other color. "Magus's Calm," she announced. "Copy." She crossed her arms, but pointed up to the top level, where Saburota now stood, leaning over the railing. "He's Terra's Calm, plants and rocks."

Yurika's blue-violet eyebrows knit together. "So, you've had contact with Ninlan already?"

Mari rolled her eyes. Their own captain was pretty odd, but never THIS bad. "Of COURSE we have. Where have been floating around in the past few months? They contacted us about a month or two after the Treaty of Mars was signed by both Earth and Jupiter, stating that Martian technology was to be studied and improved on, not shoved in each others faces."

For the first time, Lapis spoke, her voice quiet, but monotonous in a way that even Ruri could not emulate. "The Treaty of Mars was signed on June 14th of 2198. We received recognition of another nation planet on August 21st of 2198."

Ryoko whistled, impressed. "Wow. And we left Mars with the Jump Computer in March… I didn't think the war would end so fast."

Saburota shrugged, smirking slightly at the tomboy's amazement. "Jupiter's resources were running low, and the Jump Computer was the last resort they had. We eventually surrendered and pulled back all the Chulips that Earth didn't want to keep for their own purposes. But Earth was kind with our surrender. Besides, you think a Jovian like me could get on a ship of this magnitude if the war hadn't ended and there were still border problems?"

Ryoko's face grew red with her suppressed anger. She clenched her teeth as she mumbled, "We all knew the war was going to end, just not so fast…"

Kaguya nodded, agreeing with Saburota. "And peace became a big Jupiterian thing after the truth about Shiratori-san's death came out to the general public. They couldn't WAIT to get Kusakabe out of office after that little scene, not to mention apologize profusely to Earth." For the first time on their entire visit, Kaguya sounded like the captain she was.

At the mention of another's death, however, Jun glanced at Erina, wringing his hands. He didn't want to, but he was going to have to confess and suffer the consequences of his actions, not to mention apologize profusely himself to her. He caught her eye, accidentally, however, but the message got across. They needed to talk face-to-face.

Erina flapped her hands. "Now I'm sure everyone has something to say to everyone else, so I think we can go speak in private in the cafeteria, or the guest lounge, or wherever." Almost in agreement of this statement, Kaguya wrapped her arms around the shoulders of both Yurika and Akito. Ruri couldn't help but glance at the two Gardenia computer operators. Saburota raised his eyebrows at Ryoko below him, who sighed and rolled her eyes, grumbling to herself. Mari glared at her with an intense hatred. Erina tapped Inez on the shoulder, and the two of them headed for the elevator on the left side, with Kaguya leading her childhood friends to the other elevator.

Yurika twisted around to see Erina. "Erina! You never answered me!" she called out. Both groups stopped. "What day is it?"

Erina's eyes seemed to grow sad, as if dreading to tell her the truth. But the determination in Yurika's green eyes showed that she was ready to hear just about anything. "It's the 20th of January, Misumaru-san. Of 2199."

Ryoko's jaw dropped and Akito gasped. Jun froze in place, and even Ruri blinked in response to the great Jump in the timeline they made. It was nearly six months later, and they had left Ninlan only a few hours ago. It certainly put the whole Jumping theory into perspective.

Erina chewed on the inside of her lip before she turned. Inez nodded slowly. The crew finally understood the implications of Jumping being a form of time-travel. Implications that they would have to know as it was.

~*~

TBC…

~*~

A/N: Welp, that was the first chapter of "I'm your Madness"! How was it people? I know, a little fast-paced and such, but the Gardenia's crew will end up being almost as important, if not just as important, as the Nadesico crew. Mingling of crews, you know? Anyway, yes, I stole stuff from both the movie and the manga. Expect to see more of this. Anyway, as I asked before. Good start? Bad start? Go jump off a bridge start? Thanks for sticking with my extremely long universe for this long at least guys, and keep in mind that it won't be ending soon! Remember, reviews equals happy writers equal faster chapters! Bye~! 


	2. Untold ultimatum

A/N: Glad to see that you didn't think it was too fast paced! But yeah. A lot more things happening in this fic than last, because the sitting around and not doing shit to further the plot kind of annoys me. Anyway. In case you haven't realized it, Jun is definitely the main character of this story, in comparison to the others. He needs to get his. But yes. Anyway. That was notes… Recap… Um, the crew found out that it was almost six months later since they Jumped, and have come into contact with the last Nergal higher-up, Erina. They also found that they made another ship, the captain of which happens to know Yurika and Akito. This time, we get to see what happens when they separate off and get the chance to talk amongst themselves before they start heading for Earth. You know, just to straighten crap out. Anyway, you know what's happening this time, so let's get going, ne?

~*~

Kaguya folded her hands on the table and cocked her head at the Nadesico's captain seated in front of her. "Rika-chan, you never answered my question. How have the two of you been? What's been going on with you two? How long have you been together?" With both Nadesico crewmembers sitting in front of her at a table in the cafeteria, it seemed almost like the captain of the Gardenia had them trapped. Yurika certainly didn't feel like actually breaking it to Kaguya that Akito and her were no longer romantically involved with each other, for reasons on both their parts. Yurika thought Akito too childish for her tastes, and Akito was still interested in his previous and now present lover, Yamada Jiro, or Gai Daigoji to his closer friends.

But, almost randomly, Kaguya's voice seemed to spark a long lost memory. They had been fighting over Akito's attention once again, but this time, they actually started fighting. Physically. With them both being about the same size, but Kaguya being a bit more stocky, the fight seemed to go with no direction or victor, but there was one little detail that seemed to stand out to Yurika, and made her laugh out loud, a rare occurrence since the death of Akatsuki.

Kaguya's purple eyebrows knit and Yurika attempted to control her laughter at her mental image. She was able to gasp out, "I gave you the BIGGEST shiner!" before giggling insanely once again. Akito raised his eyebrows, but it took Kaguya only a moment to realize what Yurika meant.

"The fight! Oh yeah! Magus, I can't believe you remember that!" Kaguya started laughing too, mostly at being happy that Yurika remembered something, even if Akito didn't. She slowed her laughing to explain to Akito what Yurika meant. "See, Akito-kun, we were nuts about you when we were kids, remember? And we were both jealous of each other, so we started to beat the crap out of each other. She gave me a huge black eye." Akito chuckled, not seeing the huge hilarity of it, but the visual was enough. Yurika hitting someone? Priceless.

Yurika squinted her eyes, as if trying to see something far away. "And I never saw you again after that… What happened to you?"

Kaguya crossed her arms and looked at the floor, leaning back in her chair. "Well, my parents didn't think that the Utopia colony was a safe place for me to be growing up, especially if I was picking fights with local girls." Yurika smiled and giggled a bit at the obvious reference to herself. Kaguya continued, "That, and they thought it was appropriate for me to go back to Earth where I belong and learn the trade."

Yurika nodded. "Asuka Incorporated, the best designers of military computer programs and battleship computers. You guys made our Omoikane." She paused. "Kaguya, why didn't you come say goodbye to me? I just remember Akito not talking to me, you not talking to me, then Akito playing with me again all of a sudden, but you were gone."

Kaguya frowned. "I was still sad, and I thought you were still mad at me after the fight, so I decided to not tell you I was leaving."

Akito's jaw dropped, however. He too had a spark of a memory appear in his mind. "You told me goodbye and that you were leaving… And to-" He was silenced by a glare from the Gardenia's captain. He swallowed, as if swallowing his words down. What he had remembered was important, or at least that's what he thought. 'Kaguya told me to take care of Yurika, because she couldn't anymore. I guess they really were best friends before I came along.'

Kaguya's smile came back and she gaze switched from Akito to Yurika and back again. "So what's been up with you two? I mean, that I don't know already? And will you PLEASE give me some of the details of your love-life, for Magus's sake?"

Akito and Yurika blushed, and for different reasons. Yurika wasn't really sure she wanted to inform Kaguya that they weren't together, and Akito was thinking about what would happen if he DID mention who his partner is at the moment. Yurika stammered, "Um… Ano… Kaguya… I'd hate to break it to you but… Akito and I… aren't together anymore."

Kaguya's violet eyes grew about three times their size. She stood and leaned over the table, her jaw dropped. "WHAT? Are you KIDDING me?!? Are you serious?!?" Akito and Yurika slowly nodded. Kaguya sat down in her chair and glared at them. "Explain now. Fast."

Yurika began. "Well, you see, I was having a great time with Akito, but it seemed to me that he's just not the right kind of guy I'm looking for, you know? He's a bit too childish and doesn't know how to really treat a woman." Akito turned to Yurika, indignant, and interrupted, "Excuse me, I KNOW how to treat a woman, thank you very much!" Yurika rolled her eyes, retorting, "Yeah? Well, you certainly didn't know how to treat ME the way I liked it…"

Akito crossed his arms and slumped in his seat. "God, I might as well be completely gay if you want to go that direction." Kaguya's eyes became huge again as she squeeked, "You're GAY, Akito?!?" Akito rolled his eyes before responding, "Not completely, Kaguya. Yes, I do enjoy having my boyfriend's cock up my ass on a regular basis, but I really wouldn't say no to seeing a good rack now and again, despite how devoted I am to Gai-chan. You got a problem with me being bi?"

Kaguya chuckled. "No, Akito, that's not it. I'm bisexual myself, sleeping with Erina, to tell you the truth. I just never thought you'd be the type. I saw you as being a female-anatomy-obsessed little perv, but it looks like I suck, ne?"

Akito laughed too, trying to see himself armed with a tissue box and pornography. "Not quite, Kaguya. Not quite." Yurika rolled her eyes, groaning, "Are there any straight Martians anymore?" Akito nudged her, still snorting with laughter. "Oh, don't worry, Yurika. We'll turn you over eventually."

Kaguya smirked. "It's the Martian pheromones. I don't know what it is, but somehow Martians seem very attractive to many people." Akito raised his hand, shaking his head. "Living proof. Had most of the female crew chasing my ass for a while." Kaguya laughed. "No wonder you're sitting on the fence!"

Yurika sighed, remembering how she did too have a good portion of the opposite sex of the crew desiring her attention. "Damn pheromones!" But even she started to laugh, realizing how true, but stupid her statement was.

~*~

Inez glanced about the nicely decorated guest lounge of the Gardenia. It was dim like the one on the Nadesico, but seemed to work with the darkness. The walls seemed a dark blue, but everything else was black. There was a mahogany coffee table in the center of the room, surrounded by three black leather couches. Unlike the table on the Nadesico, it wasn't covered with magazines, books, or anything else. It just had three coasters on it. The whole dark feel of it was appealing to the Martian doctor as she set her coffee cup on one of the coasters. "It sure seems like a nice setup you have, since Nagare died and all, of course."

Erina's looked sidelong at her childhood idol, the corners of her painted mouth turned up slightly. "Are you jealous, Inez?"

Inez rolled her blue eyes at her friend and former lover. "Please. What do I have to be jealous about? Besides, I think you're the jealous one, trying to hide it by shoving me all the good things you have going for you in my face. Almost like you're trying to reassure yourself, ne?"

Erina looked away, a little hurt and embarrassed by Inez's words. "Inez… I missed you, you know." Inez nodded. She knew this subject would come up, but she said nothing. "I… You're supposed to stand by the side of the leader of Nergal. You're Nergal's child. That's why they arranged for you to marry Rinji, despite your preferences. You're supposed to help the head of the body. Since Nagare died, I've been in charge you know. You… you're supposed to be with me and not… Maki-san."

Inez's framed eyes seemed to bore into Erina's soul. "I have taken Izumi as my lover, just as you have taken Kaguya. You're with Kaguya. Why are you still mourning over losing me?"

Erina glared at Inez, her brown eyes intense with emotion. "Kaguya is a BUSINESS partner. I may sleep with her some nights, but we both know it's just for the best of Asuka and Nergal that we combine. Not to mention that Kaguya was the best candidate to be the captain of the Gardenia. And, right before peace talks started, she was the only Jumper at our exposal for Boson Jump experiments, until the Jupiterians and Earth worked out their differences."

Inez laughed maliciously. Erina's knit her eyebrows at the blonde woman. "Yes?" Inez shook her head, still laughing. "Oh, what you don't realize about Jumping. I'm surprised that you still don't know after all this time."

"What do you mean?"

Inez was not able to answer, as the door to the guest lounge opened just then. Both women turned to see a fidgeting Jun standing at the door. "Ano… Am I interrupting something? I'd really like to speak with Miss Won… in private."

Inez stood, nodding. "Of course, Jun. I was just leaving." She took not two steps before Erina stopped her. "Inez." The woman in question turned to look at the slumped CEO of Nergal. The black-haired woman looked up at her. "Remember what I said, Nergal's child."

Inez turned and walked away from Erina. She stopped before she passed Jun, though. She whispered, "You have no reason to be worried," before leaving the lounge, leaving Jun and Erina alone as requested.

Jun still stood by the door, as if afraid to be prey in the lion's den. Erina shook out her shoulder-length hair and ran a hand through it, her frustration over whatever she was talking about with Inez apparent. "Well?" she prompted, "Sit down, for Christ's sakes. What do you want?"

Jun complied, sitting cautiously on the couch, bowed his head. "I am very sorry for my actions, Miss Won. I… I don't know what compelled me to kill your cousin, and it cannot be forgiven. I can only apologize. I'm so sorry."

Erina sighed. The poor boy must have been going out of his mind. He sounded close to tears as it was. Before he opened his mouth to obviously apologize again, she raised a hand to silence him. "Enough, please, Aoi. For the love of god, stop. Look, Aoi, what you did was not murder. It was survival. It's okay. Besides, I didn't just hear about it today. I've had some time to get used to the fact that I'm the last of our line left. No big deal. Hell, I was planning on killing the bastard myself sooner or later."

Jun looked away, blushing slightly at his folly. Erina was Akatsuki's cousin, and most of their family has been remembered by their ruthlessness and determination to get what they want. Why should Erina be any different? But… Akatsuki showed Jun that he was human when he was distraught over losing Yurika. Erina was human too, obviously. If she could get upset about Inez… "How could you live with yourself if you did? K… kill him, that is?"

Erina rolled her brown eyes exasperatedly. "It may not be my family name, but am I or aren't I an Akatsuki? We are notorious for our philosophy of death as a action and not an event. Death of one gives others power. For me to get the CEO position that I've always dreamed of, I'd've had to kill him. I know this, you know this. Nagare's death wouldn't have been a tragedy; it would be a business transaction. Nagare thought so too. Family or not, we were each other's competition. And we both have had it drilled into our heads that competition needs to be taken out if you want the power they possess. It's all right." Jun still didn't look convinced, so Erina leaned forward so he would understand her better, if it would work. "The only person who hasn't forgiven you already, Aoi, is yourself. I've forgiven you, Yurika's forgiven you, everyone else has forgiven you, and I bet Nagare has forgiven you as well. You're the last, and probably the most in need of convincing." She stood and left the guest lounge, leaving the Nadesico Executive Officer alone to think over her words.

~*~

Ryoko couldn't help but check out the new developments in Aestivalises, so it was no surprise that she was easily found in the hangar bay, surveying the robots and their differences to her own red weapon back on the Nadesico. These Aestis seemed more sleek and fast with curves where her robot had sharp edges, not to mention much less bulky than her own. These seemed a lot more flexible and able to dodge just about anything. But, glancing over the guns and other weapons, it still looked like they were lacking where it matter most: firepower. 'They may be faster, but they're defensive. Their shield systems are great, and they can swerve out of projectile's way, but what's the point if you can't effectively get rid of the enemy?'

Still, she committed the design to memory. Given a few of the Nadesico's Aestis' weapon, and the robot might actually have no chance to lose. "The Decapitator." Ryoko laughed softly to herself.

"I see your checking out my equipment, eh?" Ryoko spun on her heel to face the speaker. She hated being snuck up on. Her face flushed crimson with embarrassment and anger at herself as she glare at Saburota. He glanced at the black Aestivalis behind her. "It is a piece of work, though, isn't it? And it certainly has speed."

Ryoko snorted, turning back around. "Speed does nothing without good weapons to back it up. Couldn't help but notice that your technology in THAT arena is behind. Besides," she ran a hand through her two-colored hair, "once we get back to Earth, Itsuki'll probably get me the first of their new model. These things get outdated within months, you know. How long have you been on this ship with these models of Aesti?"

Saburota sighed. Ryoko smirked. She knew she won this round. But she did hear him grumble, "Why is it that rich and powerful women always snatch up all the hot ones?"

Ryoko rolled her eyes. "Because they show that they have something more going for them than just random flirting of everything with boobs and a cunt. They don't just flirt to get what they want, they take action." Ryoko felt him walk closer to her, and she turned back around to tell him to back off.

She never got the chance though. He smirked at her. "Would you like it better if I took action to get what I want?" His hands were actually on her now, just touching her arms, but it was enough of a violation. But it damn near crossed the line as he leaned down, almost as if to kiss her. It was all Ryoko could do to not curse him out for not taking her seriously. But, once again, she didn't get the chance.

"Saburota, you SLEAZE BALL!" He looked over his shoulder, pushing his blonde hair out of the way to see a fuming Mari standing behind him. She glared at him at full force with her brown eyes. "Have you no respect for women at all, Saburota? Or are we all just collectibles to you? Prizes? Tell me if I'm getting close!"

Saburota's smirk did not waver. "Why, Mari-chan, I'd almost say you were jealous, my dear." Mari crossed her arms and stuck her nose in the air, retorting, "You'd love that, now, wouldn't you?"

Ryoko's jaw sagged, but then she caught her composure. Almost as if to heal her dignity, she pulled her fist back and rammed it into Saburota's stomach as hard as she could. He fell to the floor in a similar fashion as Akito did almost a full year ago on Mars. "You're an asshole! I happen to love Itsuki, you bastard! Thinking I would cheat on her for you… do you think I have no honor? Terra!"

Mari cocked her head, amused by the scene. "Nice, Subaru-san. The only other person who's actually taken him down like that is Erina for flirting with her." Ryoko made eye contact with Mari before speaking. "Did she do it when he flirted with Kaguya?"

Mari shook her head no. "No. Kanchou thinks his incessant flirting is funny." Saburota chose then to pry himself from the hangar floor and groaned, "Hey, I'm not just a playboy, you know. I make lots of great choices when it comes to women." Mari rolled her eyes, mumbling, "You choose women like you choose meat at market."

Saburota's smirk appeared, and Ryoko started to wonder if it would be able to live against Itsuki's. "Mari, it sounds like you're jealous again." Mari's face grew red, but neither of them were sure if it was from embarrassment or from frustration. They didn't ask either.

Ryoko snorted, thinking something to herself. "You know, Iwasaki-san, Takasugi-san sounds like the kind of pilot who would scream during combat. Hell, during sex if he got the chance to have sex with an actual woman, and not his right hand." Mari giggled at the remark, crude as it was. Saburota wrinkled his nose and frowned, obviously peeved. Ryoko stuck out her tongue at the Jupiterian. "Two to zero in favor of me, Takasugi-san. You're getting behind in the game."

~*~

Ruri found herself alone on the Gardenia's bridge with the two Computer Operators. She sat down in the Communications Officer's seat and spun it to face Hari and Lapis. After a few minutes of silence, Ruri finally broke it with a question that had been plaguing her mind since their meeting. "How old are you two?"

Hari bit his lip, as if ashamed to answer. "I'm nine and Lapis is eight."

Ruri's jaw sagged in surprise. She knew they looked young, but she didn't think that it was that much younger than her. "You're both so young. I didn't even start working for Nergal until I was eleven." Hari cocked his head at her, as if very interested. "But you're still young too, Princess Ruri." Ruri shook her head. "No, I'm almost fourteen-" She paused and glanced down at herself. She looked to be twelve, maybe just barely thirteen. Could she really be turning fourteen in a few weeks? How much time had they lost in all their Jumps?

Was it really so odd that Hari and Lapis were younger than even her brother Ariko? Ruri knew that her destiny was to be a Computer Operator after she got separated from her holographic parents and sent to Japan to a new set of parents to train her. When was that? "I… was four when I started training for my position, however." Almost ten years. Was it really so long ago?

Hari grew red and bit his lip, scratching the back of his head. "I didn't start training until two years ago. Lapis…"

For the first time, Lapis's pale lips separated and she spoke. "I have been training for this position for all of my life." Her voice was dull, monotone, and stoic, but somehow kept the feminine ring and childish tone. In a way, she nearly sounded like a mechanical Ruri. Hari nodded and elaborated, knowing his partner would not speak anymore than she needed to. "Yeah, that's it. I was offered the job and the training for it, and I took it. Lapis was created for the job. Actually…" his blue eyes drifted downward, as if ashamed, "after the success Nergal had with your connection to Omoikane, she was created with test-tube procedures to be as similar to you as possible, Princess Ruri."

Ruri blinked, shocked at this revelation. Genetic manipulation, while mostly beneficial, had been made illegal long before she was even born, but the fact that Nergal would use illegal methods was not what surprised her. What did was the fact that a girl's entire existence came from the fact that she became quick friends with Omoikane as a child. Ruri knew her skills as a Computer Operator were unmatched by anyone, which is why Nergal went to such lengths to train her for the position, but were they so low that they would create human life just so that someone could have the same skills as she?

Lapis's own amber eyes blinked as she scanned over the computer's windows. "There is an active Chulip 75 kilometers away. It seems to be ejecting both jiro and lower grade battleship, many of which are armed with Leap Cannons. Apparently they're a backup squadron that has gotten lost."

Ruri's eyes widened at the words "Leap Cannon". Glancing over the scanning screens, it was obvious that Lapis was right, and they were headed right for the Gardenia and the Nadesico. She turned quickly to the Gardenia's Computer Operators. "Send an alert through the ship immediately! We need the crew back on the ship." It took Hari a moment to realize that it was in their best interests to do as the princess said. His hands and Lapis's flew across their consoles in perfect synchronization. It only took a second for the red lights to start flaring, and the alarm to begin blaring. Ruri put on Mari's communication radio and sent a distress call to the Nadesico. "We're going to need help, I think."

~*~

Sarutahiko Omoikane, robot and computer, blinked away the electronic lights that flew through his blue eyes. "Kazamo-san, there's a Chulip about 75 kilometers away, extruding a formidable amount of ships and Grasshoppers. Orders?"

Itsuki frowned. Typical that random Jovian rebels would find the perfect moment to attack. But the Nadesico wasn't the ship that was created to take care of such situations. She waved her hand in the air. "It's not our job to fix it, it's the Gardenia's. Let them take care of it."

Just after Itsuki finished speaking, Yukina reported, "We're receiving a distress call from the Gardenia. Displaying on screen."

With a few pushes of buttons, Ruri's face was in a window to the entire bridge. Ruri's pale mouth opened and the movements nearly flew as she reported the Gardenia's findings to the Nadesico. "Kazamo-san, the Gardenia's sensors report that many of those battleships are armed with Leap Cannons."

Itsuki's brown eyes widened. "Ano…" Leap Cannons meant that the Nadesico was in danger, Gardenia or no. And with the ships within range… "Minato, I want you to be ready to swerve out of the way on command, okay?" Haruka Minato, the Nadesico's own helmswoman, gripped the controls in response. "Hai." Itsuki turned to Yukina to issue another order. "Yukina, contact Yurika. I want to know if we can get permission to use the Gravity Blast Cannon against these guys." As if Itsuki was the captain herself, the crew struggled to comply quickly. This was certainly not a good time for Yurika to not be on the ship.

~*~

In a matter of minutes, the Gardenia's crew and the Nadesico visitors were on the bridge, unknowing of what was going on. Ruri reported the situation just as smoothly as if it were the Nadesico before she let Mari sit back in her seat. Kaguya sat down in her captain's chair and thought for a moment. Then she ordered, "Hari-kun, Lapis, I want you to prepare the Gravity Blast Cannon for the warning shot. Mari-san, I want contact with the head vessel."

Before they made contact with the Jovian ships, the delay due to it having to reconfigure itself for the older Jovian communications system, Yurika received a beep on her communicator. She opened the window to see Itsuki. "Kanchou," began the pilot, "requesting permission to charge up Gravity Blast Cannon." Yurika paused. The Gardenia was going to use theirs as a warning shot. The Nadesico should be able to back up the smaller Nergal ship. "Go ahead, Itsuki. Don't fire until I give word though." The window beeped away.

A window appeared for the whole bridge to see the man that clearly modeled himself after Akira on Gekiganger. "Going to surrender are you? Our mission is to keep our ruins from both the Nadesico and Earth, and we'll gladly take you down if you choose to stand in our way."

Mari rolled her brown eyes. "They're a little late, not to mention lost, ne?" Kaguya nodded. "Absolutely, Mari-san. But they're still formidable as it is." She faced the window defiantly. "I am Captain Onikirimaru Kaguya of the Gardenia. Surrender to us, or you will meet a most certain death."

The man frowned, glaring at her through the window. "We will never surrender to the evil Earth! You will regret not giving in, Earth-woman!" The window closed. Kaguya shook her head. "And I'm not even an Earthling." Saburota rolled his eyes. "They really need to get a clue."

Mari nodded, crossing her arms. "I'd be careful, though, Kanchou. Men don't act rational while angry, especially this one."

Kaguya nodded. "He may be just irrational, but we have to deal with them anyway. Hari-kun, Lapis, you know what to do." The two Computer Operators' hands danced in perfect harmony of each other. "firing Gravity Blast Cannon!" announced Hari.

Yurika opened a communications window to the Nadesico. "Now, Itsuki!"

~*~

After the explosion cleared away to show the damage, Itsuki sighed. Only some of the jiros were taken out. Viktor adjusted his glasses on his face. "Maybe the Gardenia's taking this a little too far."

Itsuki nodded, thoughtful. "Maybe, but you gotta admit, whether these guys know what there doing or not doesn't change the fact that they're capable of blowing the hell out of us at any time. I'm guessing the Gardenia is planning something out already, but we could at least rid of those damn jiros. They're really making my head hurt trying to keep watch of them. Besides, if the Gardenia wants to blow them up in one shot or something, those stupid grasshoppers are going to scatter. Better to take care of them now. Jiro, Hikaru, Izumi, you guys got Aesti duty!"

Gai, Izumi, and Izumi's best friend Amano Hikaru stood. Hikaru rolled her brown eyes. "Oh, I see, we get to take care of the little bugs while they get to take care of big nasty cockroaches. Not fair." Still, they went off towards the hangar bay where their Aestivalises slept.

~*~

Hari reported, "The Nadesico has sent three Aestivalises out and they are now currently destroying the jiros, Kanchou." Kaguya chuckled, shaking her head. She looked over at Yurika with an almost arrogant smile. "So much power has the Nadesico, but you rely on your human forces on a regular basis? Kind of a waste, ne? Well, we don't play that card normally, but today we will, if only for a moment. Saburota," she turned to her Executive Officer, "You will go out and help the Nadesico pilots get the jiros out of our way as we charge our Main Cannon." The blonde Jovian nodded, standing and heading in the direction of the hangar bay.

Yurika's mouth opened and closed, as if she wanted to say something. She then frowned, and shot a glare at Akito and Ryoko. "I want you to follow him and help your comrades with the Gardenia's Aestivalises." Akito smiled. "We were just waiting for you, Yurika." Ryoko had already left him behind. "And I'm waiting for you, Tenkawa, hurry the hell up!"

~*~

Once Ryoko and Akito reached the hangar bay, Saburota's black Aestivalis was prepared and already heading out. Ryoko headed to the other black Aestivalis, leaving Akito the ugly orange spare. Akito sighed. "How gross. It looks like barf." Ryoko rolled her eyes. "YOU look like barf, now suit up and get going, Tenkawa!" She quickly changed into the female pilot suit and climb up the Aesti's ladder.

Once both of them headed out, Ryoko could feel the difference between her old red Aestivalis and this one. Despite the weapons sucking, she could still take advantage of the fact that she was a pilot focused on speed and hand-to-hand. She noticed Akito having a bit of a problem. Wait, no, it was Hikaru. "Damn colorings…" Just as well. Akito, Hikaru, and Gai all seemed to use the same tactic: speed and defensive tactics used offensively. There was a different style for each of them she knew. Many of them required them to be fast, but also depended on their technology. Ryoko liked using hand-to-hand, because it used her own, real fighting skill against a real enemy.

~*~

Kaguya glanced down at the Computer Operators, ready to issue the order that would get her screamed at, she was sure, by the Nadesico's crew. "Hari-kun, Lapis, charge up the PT Cannon." There was a collective gasp around the bridge, none of which were emitted by Gardenia crewmembers. Just as expected.

Yurika stood from her seat in the back of the top level. "Kaguya, are you insane? Those men just don't know what they're doing! Take them prisoner or something, don't just kill them all because they won't listen to you!"

Inez stood firm against the subject as well. "Certainly you're not thinking of killing these men just to prove the Gardenia's power, are you?"

Ruri, on the lowest level, glared at Hari and Lapis. She wasn't very in tune with the actions of people, but she knew that using the PT Cannon in a non-emergency state was looked down upon greatly. "Why would you destroy the existence of these warriors' lives, at any cost? You aren't just killing them, you're destroying them."

Kaguya glared at the silver-haired girl in disgust. "Erina, be ready to fire one my word." Erina nodded. Kaguya turned to face Jun, Yurika, and Inez. "This is our mission. Our secondary one, yes, and one that will end after this battle, but it is our job to deal with these people. Don't get in our way."

Jun scoffed. "So, it's your job to destroy people who don't know any better?" Kaguya closed her eyes as she turned back around. "Their ignorance does not excuse them. It was their ignorance all along that caused the war in the first place. Why should we feel pity for them?"

Yurika stood, angry. "Because they're human, just like you!"

~*~

Ryoko stopped her inner thoughts, as she had to fly up to avoid hitting Saburota's black robot. She opened a window up to him. "Hey, you asshole, what gives? Watch where you're sitting!" Saburota laughed at her. "Shouldn't it be YOU watch where YOU'RE going, Ryoko-chan?"

Itsuki's face popped up. "Ryoko-chan?!? What is the meaning of this?" Ryoko glared at Saburota, flinging a jiro in his direction. "What, didn't that punch in the stomach teach you anything? I'm happily ATTACHED!"

Izumi's face appeared, with it's scary smirk showing that yes, it was time for a first impression joke. "Itsuki and Ryoko, joined at the hip," Hikaru joined in immediately, seeing where she was going, "T-W-I-N-C-E-S-T! First comes lesbianism, then comes sex, oops, but who's on top!" They both beeped away. Ryoko rolled her eyes. "You know, guys, that wasn't even in tune!" Itsuki giggled, however. "Oh, but Ryoko, imagine the possibilities! Sharing orgasms with each other in something other than moans!" Ryoko grumbled, "I do NOT moan!"

Saburota smirked. "And you called me a screamer." Gai popped up, rolling his eyes. "That's because Ryoko doesn't know shit about guys and fucking. You don't look like a screamer to me, more like a sigher. Akito, on the other hand…"

The Martian in question threw a jiro towards his lover. "I don't scream! I moan loudly!"

Jun's face appeared to all of them, and he looked distressed. "As much as I'd hate to interrupt and agree, Akito, you do moan loudly, and some of us can't sleep because of it, we have a situation here." Dead silence met him as they awaited his announcement. He gulped before speaking again. "K… Kaguya's going to fire the PT Cannon soon, and you've gotten rid of enough grasshoppers. What I'm trying to say is…"

"Get the fuck out of dodge. Right. Report back to your respective ships!" announced Ryoko, taking charge as the six separated, Akito, Saburota and herself heading for the Gardenia while the others headed for the Nadesico.

~*~

Lapis's stoic voice rang through the Gardenia's bridge. "All Aestivalis pilots have been collected." Hari was next. "PT Cannon at full charge, Kanchou." Kaguya nodded, closing her eyes. She tried to push the words of the Nadesico's crew out of her mind, to get the state of mind she usually had to control the ship and fulfill their mission. Once she thought she had it, she opened them, frowning. "Fire PT Cannon, Erina!"

The lights on the ship seemed to flicker as the small vessel shook at the force of the cannon as the blast ran towards the squadron of ships. At impact, the temperature of the room flared hotly, showing Jun's anger and frustration of the situation. Yurika turned away, afraid of the sight and feeling a little sick. Ruri just shook her head sadly, bowing her head in respect for those who had just passed due to the ship's actions. Inez just watched the explosion and the passing of the hole in space. It quickly filled up with more space, not letting it get any deeper than it needed to be. Much like the apparent compassion of the Gardenia's crew. She glared down at Erina. "You've corrupted the crew, haven't you?" whispered she before heading to the elevator, disgusted with the scene.

Jun turned and watched her go for a moment. "Where are you going, Miss Fressange?" Inez stopped and gave an answer before continue on her trek. "To the hangar bay. We've seen all we've had to. Frankly, I think we'd better go back to the Nadesico. The air is cleaner there." She stepped into the elevator and held it open for Jun and Yurika.

Jun lifted Yurika's arm, wanting to leave as soon as possible too. "Yurika, come on… Let's go back to your ship, okay?" Yurika blinked back tears, swallowed down vomit, and stood, ready to go back to the only Nadesico-class ship that would be hers, the very first. "Yes."

Ruri was still on the lower level, but she watched Inez, Jun, and Yurika leave the bridge. Mari sighed, crossing her arms. "It's not like we like doing it, we're just good at it. It's our job." Ruri frowned before heading for the elevator herself. "That's why they are upset with you now."

~*~

"Two gravity blasts, on not even theirs, and they go for an ultimatum without even telling them the terms if they don't surrender? Obviously, I'm not the only one that thinks that's pretty fucked up." The crew that was on the bridge at the time shook their heads in response to Akito's statement. That pretty much said it all. Ryoko sighed, maneuvering the Hinagiku towards the much more friendly ship. "Barbaric is what it is. Fuckin' cavemen grunting at each other and giving each other skull fractures with their damn clubs." Jun sat in the chair next to Ryoko, spinning it idly. "Couldn't have said it better, Ryoko."

Yurika glanced at the floor from her perch in one of the side chairs. "Ne, didn't we see this coming?" The shuttle fell silent, waiting for her to elaborate. "I mean, the whole atmosphere of the ship was very… different from the Nadesico. Where the Nadesico is friendly and welcoming, it was dark and foreboding. Where the Nadesico is casual and laid-back, it was professional and no-nonsense. I thought it was because the only person we knew on there was Erina, or at least at first, but even with how kind the crew could be, there was always that bit of a difference."

Inez nodded. "And that difference is what we saw today. At first impression, they follow the same guidelines that Nergal used to hire the Nadesico's crew: job talent only, all personality quirks are pushed aside and forgotten. But they all have a mentality that was probably part of hiring them. They'd have to be able to handle seeing death after death, so most of them cover it up and see it as part of the job, and not life. A habit Erina has on her own as it is. THAT'S what's so different between the Gardenia and the Nadesico. The Nadesico has a respect for life and love, while the Gardenia doesn't. And I can't help but think that you helped that along, Kanchou."

Yurika smiled softly, but sadly. The shuttle was silent until the Hinagiku made it back to the Nadesico, and went back into the hangar bay.

As they left the Hinagiku, many of them looked relieved and relaxed, when only moments before they were strung-up and uncomfortable. Jun helped Yurika down off the shuttle, but she stopped a minute to breath deeply. "Ah." She sighed. "Home sweet home."

~*~

TBC…

~*~

A/N: Well, how was this? Obviously, you can see I'm going for a new tactic. High actions, high emotions, and characterization through such. I like the dialogue characterization, don't get me wrong, but I really like how this one turned out. Starting off like a regular chapter, then turning into something with action, then some humor, and some drama thrown in there. Not to mention a little psychology on the side. I really liked it. Hell, the first two chapters may even be by themselves. But I'll still continue, don't worry! Hell, we aren't even close to explaining the damn title yet let alone anything else! Anyway, tell me how you liked this chapter. Remember, reviews equals happy author equals faster chapters! Ciao! 


	3. Back on track, or not

A/N: Nice to see people liked the new tactic. ^^ We'll be seeing more of this kind of thing, but since these events are usually catastrophic, they won't be THAT often… Last time, Nadesico and gardenia mingled, and then we got to see the Gardenia in action. Not necessarily a good thing, but hey. Okay, I'm aware of the fact that I didn't say what was going to go here. Why? Um… I'm not really sure what's gonna go here, to tell the truth. ^^ Well, reactions and shit, of course… On the way to Earth crap… everyone figures out what's going where and who's going to do what… Um… Maybe just MAYBE we'll see the entrance to Earth… but most likely not. Because of all the action so soon, we missed out on people and stuff, so we'll probably slow it down and go back to old habits before we speed it up again. Anyway, let's get it going…

~*~

After the shuttle landed, Ruri made no idle chitchat. She went straight back to her post on the Nadesico's bridge. Once she entered the room and saw Omoikane sitting in her seat, a wave of familiarity and comfort swept over her. The Computer Operator's seat was just one seat. She was the only Computer Operator again, with Omoikane as a robot substitute. She was the only one of her kind again.

Omoikane stood immediately and got out of the way of his controller. He could feel the bad feeling over her head as clear as he could feel the nose on her face. She wasn't worried but… "Ruri-sama, what's wrong?" Ruri shook her head, brushing it off. Omoikane expected her to do so. He frowned. Ruri placed her hands on the console in front of her, but was not able to access the computer. "Tell me what's wrong, Ruri-sama. I know there's something wrong."

Ruri sighed. She forgot that Omoikane was fully capable of stopping her from accessing the computer. She may have been the best human Computer Operator, but Omoikane was fully capable of controlling himself. "Well…" Ruri didn't know how to say it. She had never had the use to really confide in anyone difficult feelings like these. Sure, she could talk to Uribatake Seiya, the Nadesico's Head Mechanic, about how Omoikane seemed to be in love with her. But this was much different from electronic love.

Instead of speaking, Ruri took his hand and closed her eyes, feeling the nanomachine console under his rubber skin. If she couldn't tell him, she'd show him. White lights danced in her vision as she replayed the scene for Omoikane. Lapis's story of creation as told by Hari, the purpose of her existence, how Lapis was supposed to be a copy of her. She described Lapis by the scene on the bridge when the PT Cannon was fired, the way the girl talked, how she seemed to ignore everything but her job. When she reopened her eyes, she looked up at Omoikane's face.

Omoikane's top lip was curled into a snarl, an expression that confused Ruri. He had always been so happy, or sad, never so angry. Did Uribatake go too far with his expressions? This upset Omoikane scared Ruri to no end.

Omoikane fell to his knees and gripped Ruri's shoulders, looking into her eyes. "I don't care what that black-haired boy had to say. Lapis may be an attempt at another you, but there can never be another Ruri. NEVER. Don't let anyone tell you that you can be duplicated so easily." His childish tone did not take away the depth of his words. It was apparent: Omoikane was speaking from his heart. He wrapped his arms around her neck in an awkward hug. "You're MY Ruri-sama. Lapis is a pathetic copy of you. At least…" Omoikane let go and looked at the floor, "you're much more kind and considerate." He looked up at her again, his blank glass eyes somehow reflecting his emotions through his glasses. "And I'm not lying. You're my Ruri and no one will take you from me!" Omoikane hugged Ruri again, almost desperately, burying his face in her shoulder. If it was physically possible, Ruri knew he would be crying.

Ruri was sure that Omoikane was in love with her, and he only showed it truly once in a while. She knew he thought highly of her, but he had never made so much of an attempt to claim her. When she was in Peaceland, he screamed that she was his, but no one thought anything of it. They were best friends, of course, and they did belong to each other in that sense, but Omoikane was obviously in love with her. Just as deeply as if he was born human.

Ruri knew that it would not be the best thing to do in response, but she couldn't help it. She felt her arms rise from their position on her sides and stopping around Omoikane's robot body. A small smile tugged her lips. Omoikane was her best friend, after all, despite the fact that he was a robot. It was okay for her to love him as a friend.

Yukina stuck a finger in her mouth and gagged. "Magus, go away. This is too sweet I think I'm gonna die." Ruri's eyes widened and she immediately let go of Omoikane, spinning her chair to face the Jovian girl. "I thought…" Yukina giggled. "Minato! She's turning red! I thought I'd never see Ruri embarrassed!"

Ruri spun the chair the other way. Sure enough, there sat Minato with a big smile on her face. "Aww, Ruri, how cute. I only wish I got a picture to send to Megumi!" Ruri moved her chair to her console, frowning and willing her face to go back to its normal pale color. "Minato, Yukina, please stop it." Minato smiled. "Oh, we're just teasing you. Besides, we're getting a little tired of hearing Omoikane whine about you."

Ruri rolled her eyes. "He's only my best friend." Yukina nodded, skeptical. "Yeah, yeah, sure, sure." Ruri glared at her from the corner of her eyes. "Baka."

~*~

Izumi could tell by the look on Inez's face that if she was ever to be closer than ever, it was now. The blue-haired pilot followed Inez all the way to her lab, not being discreet at all. Inez knew she was following her, but did not try to keep her away. There was something she wanted to discuss with her as it was. Once she reached her lab, she opened the door and stopped, waiting for her younger lover to enter before closing and locking the door. She took off her glasses and rubbed her eyes as she sat down on one of the cots.

Izumi sat in the computer chair at her desk and spun it to face Inez. "I know it was bad, but exactly how bad?"

Inez snorted. "How bad does it need to be? They're corrupted, I know it. And I know it was because of Erina. She hired the next-best people for a civilian ship, but also made sure they had her mindset." Inez sighed. "Fuck. I still can't see how they could be so cold as to kill random people. Ignorant people, yes, but still people. Even Erina had a heart, I thought. No, I knew it."

Izumi was quiet. She knew Inez was venting, something the scientist barely ever got to do, but something seemed to keep appearing in her monologue. "Inez… What happened between you and Erina?"

Inez placed her glasses back on her face and looked at Izumi incredulously. "You mean I never told you? Funny, I thought everyone knew. Before the ship mutinied, I was romantically involved with her. Had been on and off for quite some time."

Izumi's jaw dropped. She knew that Inez and Erina grew up together, but she had no idea that they were together. Of course, it made sense now. Both of them seemed to be strictly lesbian, but not exactly showy about it. Erina thought Yurika was attractive, of course, and Inez's sexuality was just obvious with her behavior, especially with having turned down many a man, but never giving a definite no on women. But Izumi never seemed to put two and two together before. She finally nodded. "I'm guessing there's more than that, right?"

Inez stood and started pacing. "Of course it is. The only reason we ever met as kids is because of this stupid little idea her family had. The Akatsuki end, I mean. I mean… Terra, there's not easy way to say this. You were engaged to Rinji, right?" At Izumi's nod, she continued. "Rinji was the first heir to Nergal. He'd have the whole company right now if he lived. Not blaming you, at all, darling, but he would. And I… I would probably have had to wed him." Before Izumi could respond, she stood in front of her blue-haired lover, lifting her chin to look at her. "It was arranged that I was probably going to have to marry Rinji. But he refused and rebelled against his father. He was with you at the time. But then he died in that accident, and Nagare got the heir position. It was just assumed that I would eventually marry Nagare. The only reason they set this up is because I was Nergal's child. Raised and grown in the company's custody. And they deemed that… Nergal's child would wed the heir to Nergal."

Izumi had no idea that Rinji was arranged to marry Inez. She knew he was arranged to marry someone else, which is why she was so willing for an eloping marriage. But she didn't think it was Inez… But somehow, the idea didn't hurt her. It was a demon in Inez's closet that she had just let out for Izumi. Sure, Izumi still loved Rinji. Hell, she still loved Ken too. But she thought that maybe she loved Inez, maybe not. It was a small world after all. Izumi nodded. "I didn't think that the other woman that Rinji didn't care much for was you, but that's okay. I… I don't mind. Besides, neither of you wanted to do it, right?"

"Of course not. I was twenty-five at the time, and Rinji was twenty-three I believe. I was first falling for Erina then, even if she is seven years younger than me. That was when I became a full-fledged lesbian, and Rinji, Nagare, and Erina knew it. After his father died, Nagare would have none of that false love marriage. He knew I preferred women and would let me have who I wanted, not get tied down by him. But Erina… she fell in love with me. So of course she would try to enforce that stupid little idea."

Izumi narrowed her crimson eyes. "So she's still in love with you, and wanting you even though you officially broke up?"

Inez snorted. "We never officially broke up in her eyes. Hell, maybe we didn't in mine either."

"But… you're with me."

Inez shrugged. "Yes, I am. This is actually probably the longest we've been away from each other romantically. I was surprised to find that she's with Kaguya. But of course she tries to lay a guilt tip saying that we're supposed to be together."

"So you love her."

"Of course I do, Izumi! She's my best friend, my lover of two years, and the only other person I connected with on a mental level until you came along! But I love you too, Izumi. We may not have the years, or the duty behind our relationship, or the power, but you are everything Erina is, and lacking the cold-heartedness I hate in that family!"

Izumi smiled. "So I guess that explains why she never seemed to fit in on the ship. Her and Akatsuki, you know. We care about people, all of us do, but they see people as tools, or pawns."

Inez leaned in to kiss Izumi. "Thank you. That's exactly what I've been trying to say for years."

~*~

Hikaru's CD player, one of her most treasured objects, had run out long ago. However, somehow, even with the lack of her music, both hard and soft, she was still asleep. A glance at the black alarm clock that she shared with her best friends Izumi and Ryoko would tell her that she should have been up an hour ago, but she wasn't too far behind. Izumi and Ryoko had only left the room moments before, having finished showering and dressing.

No, it wasn't the lack of music that woke her; it was the sudden banging and screaming of "Wake up and get us our coffee!" that did the job. Her brown eyes flipped open immediately, and she glanced at her CD player first. Yeah, she had forgotten to put it on repeat. An acceptable mistake. At least she didn't wake up this time. But that little thought was killed as soon as she glanced at the clock.

"7:30!?!? Oh Aer, I was supposed to be up an hour ago!" She yanked her headphones off her head and threw the covers off her body. Hikaru was never late to breakfast. It was her favorite meal, if only because it was the one meal that was specifically her friends' time. Lunch and dinner they all spent time together, but everyone else was there as well. It just wasn't as special.

Hikaru's vision suddenly blurred, at least more so than it was without her glasses, into a bright yellow light, then darkened significantly. She couldn't really focus on anything, as it was all just a bunch of swirls of different colors that she couldn't even begin to identify. She slowly started to wonder if she had passed out when her vision flashed bright yellow again and she could see, for the most part.

Amazingly, she was in the cafeteria. The darkened cafeteria at that. That's what didn't make sense. After breakfast, the cooks got going making the lunch food, because lunch was considerably early on the ship. The cafeteria wasn't dark unless it was before breakfast. Hikaru knew this because she was usually the first one there, and she turned the lights on.

Speaking of the lights, they suddenly turned on, as if on their own. The redheaded girl jumped and turned quickly to the door, if only just to see who turned them on and if they could explain just what the hell was going on.

Luckily, it was Ryoko, who wouldn't be too offended by the barrage of questions she was about to suffer. The tomboy knit her eyebrows at her redheaded best friend. "Hikaru, how the fuck did you get here so quick? You were dead asleep last we checked. Of course, you didn't change but we didn't even freaking see you pass us, and we took the short way here!"

Hikaru shook her head madly, her messy ponytail falling even more out than it did in her sleep. "I have no idea how I got here, I was hoping you'd answer that for me! I mean, one second I'm flipping out that I was late to breakfast, then the next I'm here and I can't even see because my glasses are in the room!"

Gai, behind Ryoko, pushed the tomboy into the room so everyone else could enter. That is, Akito and Izumi, along with Gai and Ryoko. "Did anyone else see that light bulb die right before we got in here? Did you turn on the lights Hikaru? " At Hikaru's negative response, she looked confused suddenly. "Really? But there was this flash of yellow light… Well, then again, light bulb blows are usually blue or something like that."

Akito was skeptical. "No, the lights in here are fluorescent. The only room that has an actual light bulb involved is the storage room, and nobody ever goes in there except Miss How Mei, the girls, and me. And yeah, light bulb blows are usually white or light blue."

"Maybe that flash was Hikaru Jumping to the cafeteria," stated Izumi, already sitting down at their table.

Four sets of jaws dropped at Izumi's nonchalant assessment. Though, with a moment or two to think, Ryoko regained her composure. "Well, I guess it does make sense. Weird shit does have the habit of following us around. Not to mention that Miss Fressange had me do the Jumping of the ship."

Akito's eyes and mouth could not get any wider. "Are you serious? I thought only Ai did it and had you watch or something!"

Gai wasn't so surprised this time. He tapped his chin with a finger. "Have the Jumping laws suddenly changed or something? I thought only Martians and Jupiterians could Jump?"

Izumi shrugged. No one else seemed to have the answer. Hikaru rubbed her eyes, as if trying to focus despite it being so impossible without her glasses. "Okay then, so where are Jun and Itsuki and Sayuri? Does Sayuri come with you, Akito?"

Gai chuckled. "Akito bribed them with free coffee to go wake up Sayuri to come cook breakfast, instead of him going to do it." Akito rolled his eyes.

Hikaru gasped. "That's what woke me up!"

~*~

It was never very apparent to the rest of the crew of the Gardenia that Kaguya and Erina were romantically involved. Both of them being very career-focused, they did what they had to and did not let their relationship get in the way of their jobs. The only time it became apparent then, was at meals, specifically the Gardenia's early dinners. They sat alone at their own table and discussed what was going on with them their lives.

Even at these times, however, Erina was consistently quiet while Kaguya showed exactly how talkative she could be. As she opened her soda and pulled the cap off, she began on the day before's encounter with her childhood friends. "It was so great to finally see Rika-chan and Akito again. I hadn't seen them in so long! I could tell that they had really grown up since the last time I saw them. At least Rika-chan isn't getting into fistfights over boys anymore! And I no clue that Akito was bi, he never seemed the type, you know? I mean, sure he kept to himself, but he seemed like he would eventually grow into hetero-pervert shoes that just seemed to be set for him. But I guess they both have seen enough of everything to realize that they weren't right for each other. It makes sense though. I figured they'd try out being together, but I really didn't think, then and now, that Yurika and Akito were right for each other."

"Ahh," was all that Erina could interject before Kaguya started off again. The Gardenia's captain was almost always like this when it wasn't important for her to be professional, which made Erina wonder if Yurika and Kaguya weren't actually fraternal twins separated at birth. Of course, Yurika had more compassion than Kaguya, which could have just been an effect of her position on the Nadesico, and Yurika had a much more tactical mind than Kaguya.

Erina had to admit though, if she were to choose someone else for the position of Captain of the Nadesico, it certainly would have been Kaguya. Kaguya had the right mindset for an employee of Nergal, despite her being the CEO of Asuka Incorporated. She knew that all people would eventually die, and those who volunteered to be in battle were aware of this. All of the Gardenia's crew had to know and acknowledge this, but Kaguya seemed to be just as understanding of this concept as Erina, something that nudged her into the Captain's position. Not to mention the romantic partner position, or the business partner position. Hands down, Kaguya was just the right kind of person Erina liked, only a touch more happy than she really liked. Well, Kaguya was supposed to be jealousy mark against Inez, but obviously did not work out very well.

Erina only met Kaguya after the Nadesico had failed to return. She was looking forward to the Boson Jump experiments with the three known living Martians, but since they didn't return even a month after their disappearance, Erina found herself searching for anyone born on Mars that was still alive. And she only found four: Inez, Akito, Yurika, and Kaguya. And with Kaguya the CEO of Asuka made her easily reachable for the stand-in CEO of Nergal.

Erina's interest and even obsession of Boson Jumping annoyed and scared her. She was so into it that she even was turned on by Akito, despite him being male, only because of his ability to Jump. Inez was highly close when she said that Erina had a Martian fetish, but it was wrong. Erina was highly attracted by being able to travel in time, to teleport anywhere and any time, to be wherever whenever. So it was rational for her to have had held a lit candle for each of the female Martians, Inez, Yurika, and Kaguya.

Yes, Erina had a crush on Yurika. She may be in love with Inez and having regular sex with Kaguya, but there was something about Yurika that was inherently different. Inez and Kaguya had both grown up in a business-like family and had some sort of coldness about them. Yurika grew up with a father and a therapist, as her records stated, and knew how to respect life. It was that quality that made her attractive to not only Erina, but her cousin Nagare as well. The exact same quality she despised interested her and fascinated her because, in this day and age, it was remarkable.

Erina nodded once again as Kaguya rambled on about the exact same girl that was on Erina's thoughts. Yes, Erina was in love with Inez, but Yurika was just something she wanted to try out, like a fancy car that she could possibly possess, but she was too attached to her old vehicle. And Kaguya? She was more of a rental car, without the money. Someone Erina had for the time being, but wouldn't last long. Erina only hoped that Kaguya realized that when the time came to drive either the old vehicle or the fancy, desired car.

~*~

It wasn't all that odd to see Yurika patrolling the halls when there wasn't anything pressing to do. She wasn't really into video games, so she would barely ever be in the recreation hall. She wasn't really a big eater, so she wouldn't randomly go to the cafeteria for food. But she really did enjoy wandering around.

But today was different. She wasn't just wandering around; she actually had a destination. She stopped in front of a door that saw many openings and closings, but not many from her, and knocked. It didn't take long for one of the three residents of the room, Izumi, to answer. "Oh, hi, Kanchou. What brings you here?" asked the blue-haired pilot.

Before Yurika could answer, she was interrupted by some kind of shout from inside the room. It sounded slightly high-pitched, so it obviously wasn't the person she came to see. "Hah, you're dead again! I'm so kicking your ass, Ryoko! You just freakin' suck, man." Izumi sighed and glared over at Hikaru and Ryoko, obviously playing some sort of game, fighting or puzzle. The tomboy in question punched Hikaru in the arm. "You're the one that sucks, you bitch!"

"Ow, Ryoko, that fucking hurt!"

Yurika giggled a bit, slightly amused by this scene. She looked back at Izumi. "Um, I just wanted to know if Ryoko was busy…" Izumi glanced at the TV screen again. Yes, it was definitely a puzzle game. "Ryoko's on her last chance, and she sucks at puzzle games. She's gonna die in like two seconds anyway. Come on in." She stepped out of the way and let the Captain of the Nadesico into the large, yet cluttered room.

Yurika sat in the director's chair near the door and watched the TV screen as Hikaru continuously filled Ryoko's side with her extra marbles. Ryoko tried her hardest to get rid of them, but only caused more marbles to add onto the ones she already had. It wasn't quite two seconds, but Ryoko's loss was fast as Hikaru's thumbs flew around on her controller. She cried out in victory as Ryoko's side of the scene grew dark once again, indicating that she had died again. Ryoko threw her controller down in frustration. "Terra fucking dammit! I fucking hate this damn game!"

Hikaru rolled her brown eyes behind her glasses. "Oh grow up Ryoko. Just accept that I am going to continuously kick your ass at video games until you die and get off your pedestal." Ryoko glared at her best friend. "I will NOT admit it! One more time!"

Izumi standing behind them, cleared her throat to get their attention. Once Ryoko was looking at her. She nodded her head in Yurika's direction. "Ryoko, calm your ass down. Kanchou's here to see you, and not the one you had hot loud sex with last night, you animal."

Hikaru's mouth turned into a huge grin. "Oh, Ryoko, I had no idea you were into the whole domination-order-me-around thing!" Ryoko's cheeks flushed immediately, causing both Izumi and Hikaru to laugh insanely. Hikaru's comment was met with Ryoko's foot connecting with her thigh as she walked over to where Yurika stood. She pulled her up and out the door, closing it behind her.

Yurika cocked her head at the tomboy that was leading her anywhere but towards her room. "What was all that about?"

Ryoko stopped at a bench in the next hall and sat down, waving a hand in the air. "Nothing. Absolutely nothing. So, what's up? I know there's something."

Yurika sat down next to Ryoko and folded her hands in her lap. Ryoko could feel that there were various things pulling at her mind. She didn't know exactly how she could connect with Yurika as a person, but she somehow could, despite how different they were.

"Well… a couple things have been bugging me, especially lately. One definitely being… Nagare." Ryoko leaned back into the bench. She just now realized that this is something they had yet to address. It could take a while. Yurika continued, however. "I mean, I know, get over it, he's dead, he's gone, get on with your life, but I just can't seem to. I mean, I don't blame Jun. I really don't. He did what he had to and I respect him for that. Besides, he's my best friend. I've loved Jun a lot longer than I've loved Nagare." Her hand flew up to her mouth to cover it, as if it was a futile attempt to keep the last sentence in. It slowly fell back to her lap with its mate and smiled sadly. "I don't know. Maybe I did love Nagare. Maybe I still do. But how could I? I didn't even trust him to be kind to Izumi and still be loyal to me. Trust is the basis of every relationship, you know? I don't see how I could be such a hypocrite. And maybe Magus was right. Maybe my paranoia in breaking up with Nagare is what lead to his downfall and death. How was I supposed to know though? We all knew he was an asshole. Nagare, that is. How was I supposed to trust him? I mean, I knew he loved me, but how was I to KNOW? But at the same time, I can't help but feel responsible." She stopped, almost to collect air, but she didn't try to speak again, upset by her own findings in rambling to Ryoko.

Ryoko ran a hand through her two-colored hair. "Well, all I have to say is that if dwell on what you think is your own responsibility, you'll turn into Izumi. You know, when we were in school, they used to call her Bad Luck after Ken died. I didn't know this until I came back after Rinji died, of course. But after that, she seemed to think that anyone that loved her was destined to die. That she was the cause of the deaths. That they were her fault. That she was the cause. Let me tell you, it's not fun to come home from grocery shopping to find Izumi in a locked bathroom trying to kill herself. On an almost daily basis too. You can feel as responsible as you want, but just remember that. And try to think about whether Akatsuki would like to see you sooner than he would normally. Anything else for me to dust away?"

Yurika had forgotten that Ryoko has dealt with friends losing lovers before and knew exactly how to fix it by now. Yurika felt significantly better with this revelation of Ryoko's past experiences with someone like her. Of course, Izumi was a bigger extreme; with it happening twice and to people she was going to marry. Yurika didn't think until now that she may have been serious about Nagare. He was just someone she opened up to and became more wild and smart-assy with.

Nevertheless, Ryoko kept the door open for Yurika to talk about the other thing that was bugging her. "Well, the other thing I guess… Two words. The Gardenia." Ryoko nodded. Everyone knew about this subject already, but it did stir up quite a few emotions among the members of the crew that followed the grapevine. Namely, all of them. But Yurika was actually on the bridge at the time that the firing of the PT Cannon was ordered. That had to be at least slightly traumatic.

"I always thought that the PT Cannon was barbaric and I never really wanted to use it after that first trial run. Sure, I ordered Omoikane to use it after Shiratori-san was killed, but I was all pissed off and offended and hurt that someone would kill someone on their side seeking peace that I thought they deserved to be destroyed almost immediately. Luckily they Jumped away before I could go nuts and blow them all away like Kaguya did all those ignorant soldiers… And I couldn't believe how cold the rest of the crew was about it. They just saw it as another day's work, not the end of someone's life or anything like that. At least our ship's crew knows that every life is precious. How could my best friend when I was little be so heartless?"

Even Ryoko couldn't answer this one. The idea that Izumi or Hikaru would stop caring about other people was just impossible to comprehend to the tomboy. Hikaru was always trying to help people with their problems, even hiding her own and letting them rant while keeping her opinions in check. Everyone seemed to be able to talk to Izumi about their issues, whether she wanted them to or not. They both cared about people because when they were little, it seemed like no one cared for them.

Ryoko wrapped an arm around Yurika's shoulders. The Martian woman finally let all her barriers lose and cried, finally with someone that wouldn't judge her by her emotions or actions. Someone that had already set her opinions about her long ago. Someone she could connect with and trust.

~*~

Ever since that little revelation about Hikaru and Ryoko that morning, Akito had been slightly pissy, if not overboardly pissy. He was often yelling at the girls and got reprimanded not once, not twice, but three times by How Mei to calm the hell down and stop being so mean. Gai didn't even get a chance to talk to him all day, with him being yanked all over the place by Hikaru's work and having to give criticism, and Itsuki's insistence that they begin to address their work at their desks on the way to the desk, as they had "put it off long enough", or so she said. But it was when they finally got some time together, which was in the recreation hall after dinner and Harumi and Mikako got dishes duties, that Akito's highly fluctuating mood came into play when it came to his lover and boyfriend.

It became apparent when he turned down a game of ping-pong with Hikaru. He never turned down ping-pong, as it was his favorite game to play, other than jigsaw puzzles. Gai, who was only half listening and reading yet another story that Hikaru wanted an opinion on, looked up when he heard his Martian boyfriend do something he never would have seen him do. "Dude, 'Kito, did you just turn down a chance to kick Hikaru's ass at Extreme Ping-pong? You sick or something? Something wrong?"

Akito turned his framed eyes to Gai and glared at him coldly, the temperature of the room dropping a few degrees. "No. There is nothing fucking wrong with me, Yamada."

Gai's eyebrow twitched as Akito called him by his real last name. Only two people called him by his real name anymore, and they happened to be sleeping together: Itsuki and Ryoko. Akito seemed to have forgotten his real name. Gai slowly placed the papers down next to him on the bench. His fingers slowly bunched into fists, as if to control something and hold it down. "Outside, 'Kito. Now."

Once the two of them had made it outside the recreation hall and the sliding door had closed, Gai crossed his arms and tapped his foot. He knew very well that all the others in their group were bunched just inside the door to listen. While the crew was compassionate about people, they certainly had a craving for gossip, rumor, and a talent for eavesdropping. "Well? I know something's wrong now. You never call me by my real name. And don't lie to me, there is something wrong. Talk."

Akito stood glaring at him for a few moments before he sighed, relaxing his clenched body and falling onto the bench next to the door, almost exasperatedly. "Look, I'm sorry, I'm just so fucked up today and I know that's not an excuse but it's all I got. Sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm just so fucking worthless now-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Back the truck up. What? Worthless? Elaborate, 'Kito." Gai sat down on the bench next to Akito, who ripped his glasses off his face and covered his eyes, not crying, but almost hiding.

"It's true. This only thing I was good for was occasionally cooking and as a Jumper. I was hired because I was convenient, not because I was a good cook. At least I was sort of an okay pilot, but it didn't help much, because let's face it, I'm not freaking Ryoko. At least as a Jumper I was the best, with even Ai and Yurika not as good as me. I was the only one who could do it at first, remember? First recorded Boson Jump? That was me. I Jumped the ship with Yurika to Ninlan. But the way back? I wasn't even involved. And I thought it was Inez that did it. Nope again. Ryoko did it. And this morning? Hikaru Jumped to the cafeteria. The one thing that I was good at, the one thing that was MINE is being taken away by everyone else and I can't even do anything about it!"

It took Gai a minute to absorb all of this. He had no idea that Akito would actually display his frustration and depression as anger towards those he cared a lot for. He pulled Akito's glasses from the Martian's hand and wrapped an arm around his shoulders, leaning his own head against Akito's bent one, feeling his chestnut hair against his cheek. "Jumping isn't all you're good for Akito, and you know it. Sure, you're not Miss How Mei at cooking, but you're still good. Nergal would have fired you, and not just the UE if they felt you were a bad cook. And you're still a good pilot, even without any training, or they would have ordered you out of that pink Aesti. And if you're worthless as a Jumper, than why was Erina the only one other than me who always knew where you were?" Gai smiled as he realized that Akito was probably doing the same. "Erina wanted your ass simply because you were a Jumper, and I bet she still does, simply because you are good at it. You can still do it at will. Maybe Miss Fressange can do it to, but she's a freaking scientist. She probably wrote an article on how to do it and had to practice a million times. You? Comes naturally. That kind of talent isn't capable of learning, even with years of experience. Now, Hikaru, get away from the door and stop taking notes."

A giggle from inside the door marked that Gai was absolutely correct in his statement. Akito smiled and sat up straight, taking his glasses back from Gai and placing them back on his face. He stood and headed for the door, making sure he made enough noise to inform everyone by the door that they had better move fast back into their places.

Gai leaned over and looked at Akito. "And where are you going?" Akito looked back and smiled slightly. "Going to go kick Hikaru's ass at Extreme Ping-pong, why?"

~*~

TBC…

~*~

A/N: Does anyone know how hard it was to write most of that? Oh my god I am now going to die, if you don't mind. Anyway. Yeah, lots of fun characterization shiznit and some look into the whole Jumper-idea. Whee. Anyway. How was it? Crappy-like as per usual? Bah, I feel incoherent now. :P Okay, next time… characterization crap and the Nadesico invades Earth. That is all. Remember that reviews make writers happy and crap. Gah, need to go to sleep or something… 


	4. Home or no

A/N: Yeah, sorry about the hiatus and shit. Well, here goes my excuse. My grades finally caught up with me and of course I got grounded from the computer. But its okay, because now I got a little time everyday, and the hiatus got something out of it. That's right people, we finally know what's going down for this fic! YAY! Okay, desperate need for recap. The characterization is getting back on its high. More of the same this time, but we'll tie up some loose threads while we're at it. And we kind of ignored Jun last time, and since he's supposed to be the main character and all, he'll get a DOUBLE DEUCE (kudos if you get the reference) of characterization to make up for it. Alright, since we now know how it's going, let's get a-going!

~*~

Jun was actually only inches from reaching sleep. No matter how loud his music was, now matter how room shaking it was, he was always capable of sleeping with it on. He didn't mind killing his ears. Besides, it made him stop thinking about whatever was plaguing his mind; almost making his brain let go and dance to the hard tune. But this time, something interrupted the song that he knew by heart now. Something he knew wasn't supposed to be in that song. Something that sounded like buzzing or something similar.

He opened his dark blue eyes and flopped over on his futon, reaching over and turning off his stereo. Yeah, the buzzing wasn't from that, it was from the door. He groaned as he pulled himself off the mattress and walked over to the door, opening to see whom the visitor was.

Hikaru was standing there with the purple file folder that had become almost uniform for her to be carrying. It was amazing what kind of things she could fit in there. But it was also a sign that she was working intently on something, and often was trying to get opinions on things. She smiled at the Executive Officer. "Hey, Junny! Are you busy? I heard you listening to some really good music, so I figured I'd ask first before I attacked with this plot-idea I got."

Jun sighed. It was still morning, but he had wanted to get a nap in, but he supposed he could spare a few minutes with one of his friends, at least on of the creative ones. He let Hikaru in and sat on his futon. He contemplated turning his stereo back on, finally deciding to flip it on. After all, Hikaru had said that it was "really good". He turned it down though, to save the redhead's ears. "Okay, what's this idea you've got? Run it past me."

Hikaru opened the file folder with ease, pulling out the scribbled notes she had all over printer paper. "I wanted to type it, but it was too organized to follow my thought processes. Anyway, it's this story about a loner nerdy girl that a teacher's pet and all that, but she's somehow gotten these bad friends. They don't change her, mind you, but they do kind of depend on her for tutoring and stuff like that. But there's this urban legend about the Goddess of Corruption that often goes out and causes bad things to happen, killing people, all that stuff. Now, what if this poor little upright girl actually has schizophrenic tendencies? Like, she has a split personality, and the other side happens to be this Goddess of Corruption?"

Jun nodded, flipping through Hikaru's notes, which included not just little ideas and names and little details that needed filling out, but pictures of these people and little pictures of Hikaru in various emotions, complete with thoughts on the pictures and concepts. For it being horribly messy, it was at least slightly organized, in a stream-of-consciousness sort of way. It was horribly point-by-point in Jun's opinion, but it flowed. He handed it back to the redhead. "Hmm, the concept is pretty good. Kind of like it's the part of her that wants out of the little mundane life she's making of herself, wanting to go out and have fun and live life, no matter how 'bad' it may be, ne?"

Hikaru nodded, happy that Jun caught the concept by just glancing at her notes. She could barely ever make sense of them herself. "Yeah, that's exactly it, Junny! Thanks! Now all I have to ask is Itsuki, Uri-P, Izumi and Akito and maybe some random people…"

Jun's eyes widened as he realized the word he was looking for, and it certainly wasn't schizophrenia. "Repressed personalities!" Hikaru jumped at his random yell of realization. "Huh?"

Jun shook his head. "It's not schizophrenia, Hikaru, it's the repressed personality theory. Remember way back when the Yamato was hacked and we were all locked away in our own communication system? The repressed personalities!"

Hikaru nodded quickly, loving the reminder. "Yes! Oh thank you Jun!" she pulled a purple pen out of the file folder and started writing on her messy notes. "That's great. Maybe while she's sleeping at night she gets some insight on what the other side of her is doing and all that… hmmm… And maybe I could come up with other sides of her bad friends that don't recognize her or something…"

Jun was contemplative, however. He was thinking back to that day of the hacking of the Yamato. Everyone's repressed personalities seemed to be apparent. He himself was psychotic, Hikaru was quiet, Ryoko was submissive, Gai was bossy, Akito was aggressive, Akatsuki was childish, Izumi was perverted, Itsuki was naïve, Inez was childish as well, and Ruri was a little paranoid. What on Earth was Yurika's?

"Hey Hikaru…" He didn't want to interrupt the redhead's soaring creativity, but it really was bugging him. She looked up, not annoyed at all, however. "Hmm?"

"I was just wondering… Do you remember what Yurika- I mean Kanchou's repressed personality?"

Hikaru tapped her lips with her pen, thinking. "Well, I don't remember her being nice at all while we were all being weird, so maybe deep down she doesn't care?"

"No!" Jun would not accept that answer, however true it may have seemed in the least bit. She didn't ever really showed how much she cared for Jun, even as a best friend, with her expressing her emotions to Ryoko and not him, but he would never be able to think that she never cared. Especially never cared about him. Besides, Yurika's heart was loving and passionate. He knew that, even if he had never worked his way into there. You could tell what happened inside a building by watching from afar. He covered his ears and curled into a ball, locking away the realization that maybe Hikaru was right. "But she cared about Akito…"

"Oh crap! I suck! Okay, Jun, kick my ass now if it'll make you feel better because I'm a fucking bitch." She hopped onto his futon and wrapped her arms around him, a precaution in case he started sobbing. But he didn't. She petted his dark blue hair, smiling a bit. "I'm sorry, Junny. My bad. Didn't want to remind you of that…"

"It's not so much that she cared more about Akito than me, but it's the fact that he's pretty much my best friend and my best female friend chose him over me and I couldn't do shit about it… And I'm sorry but I was so happy when they split up…"

Hikaru nodded. "I understand. You can't help but be greedy when it comes to those you love, and then you can't help but feel guilty because of it. I… I really do know where you're coming from. So, you gonna kick my ass or what? Come on, bring on the Chinese water torture, I'll face it! I'm really sorry for bringing it up Junny. Let's fix it, kay? How about I let you gloat over kicking my ass in Lovey-Dovey Hard-Boiled Battle, okay?"

Jun uncurled and looked at Hikaru a little incredulously. "But you never lose that game."

Hikaru sighed and shrugged. "I'll lose for you. Come on Junny, PLEASE???"

~*~

It took Hikaru a few times to actually let Jun win, mostly because old habits die hard. Or at least it takes a while to beat them into submission. But Jun was for the most part satisfied. He knew it took a lot of pride for Hikaru to give up her champion status at that game, the one game that even Ruri couldn't beat the redhead in, and Jun wasn't going to be rude and gloat about it. It just showed how much Hikaru loved her friends, no matter how much she barely had one-on-ones with them.

But something still bothered Jun. And this something was what Jun was going to clear up immediately. He needed to speak with the only Angel that he hadn't ever really connected with, and the one that seemed to be unintentionally taking his position as Yurika's best friend: Ryoko.

It was never hard to find Ryoko. Either she was in her room sleeping, or she was wondering around with one of the other Angels or having random sex with her girlfriend. Jun had to admit, those two certainly were masters at random sex, not even waiting for the night at times, not even waiting till people realized that the clothes were coming off at extremely rare, but awkward times. But it was always a best bet to start off at the Three Angels' room, especially since Hikaru was back in the recreation hall trying to earn back her pride.

As he slowly raised his hand and knocked on the door, he started to regret this decision. He had never been very confrontational, ever. He didn't even like making friends because he was afraid of offending someone. And here he was, going to somehow ask Ryoko why Yurika turned to her instead of to him. Ryoko was one of the many people on the ship fully capable of kicking his ass. Jun wasn't a very physically focused person. Hell, even Akito could kick his ass, and Akito only played video games, cooked, physically fought with people, did friendly slaps and spanks, and occasionally did sit-ups. Though Jun had to admit, the friendly hits were getting a little weird.

But, it didn't matter whether Ryoko could really kill him or not, because she suddenly opened the door, still dressed in her pajamas. Unlike Hikaru, who wore little nightgowns and shirts to bed, and unlike Izumi who wore either pajamas or her regular clothes to bed, Ryoko wore what looked like her underwear, almost to intimidate whomever she was talking to at the time. It normally worked like a charm, and this was definitely one of those times. Besides, Ryoko had expected Jun's presence, but not quite so soon. Nevertheless, she had to bite her lip to keep from laughing out loud as the Executive Officer's face turned as red as his nanocontroller. "A… Ano…" That was it, Ryoko couldn't take it anymore.

She pulled the blue-haired man into the Three Angel's room, laughing at his face. My God of Earth, you seriously need to stop being so uptight, Junny!" She grabbed a t-shirt and pulled it over her body.

Jun glared at the tomboy. "I am NOT uptight! I've been relaxing a lot, thank you very much!" Ryoko rolled her eyes as she picked up a pair of jeans. "Yeah, yeah. What did you want, anyway, Jun? Hikaru told me you were coming, but not why."

Jun's lack of confrontational nature came back into play, and he suddenly didn't believe this was the time for this. Nevertheless, he swallowed and asked what he came to ask. "What did Yu… Kanchou talk to you about, Ryoko?"

"Aiya. Now that's a loaded question." Ryoko buttoned up her pants and sat on her mussed bed, facing Jun. "Well, it was kind of personal, you know? I'm not going to be the one that blabs it to everyone else, but I'm not horning in on the best-friend territory, Junny. Really."

Jun shook his head, wringing his hands in his near-sudden nervousness. "No, that's not it. It's okay. Kanchou should have a female best friend that's not… Onikirimaru-san. No, that's not what I'm getting at. It's just…" He took a deep breath before asking the one thing he didn't like about the little setup between Ryoko and Yurika. "Why didn't she come to me?"

Ryoko shrugged. "Sometimes girls need to connect with other girls, and not guys. I don't know, I guess it's just an anatomy thing." Jun sighed and collapsed into their director-style chair. "I know." He paused. He had a problem with this, that's for sure, but what exactly it was was a total mystery. He sighed again, interlocking his fingers and resting his forehead on them.

Jun finally broke the silence. "Maybe I'm just jealous."

"Whoa, dude, Jun. Possessive much? I'm not going to steal Kanchou from you-"

"No." He shook his head, sadly. Not that kind of jealous. Maybe I'm just jealous of Kanchou. I mean, she's got so many people she can connect with: You, Akito, Ruri, me… And me, I don't think I can reciprocate anymore, you know? So the only person I got is Akito for a best friend."

Ryoko crossed her arms across her gray t-shirt. "But what about Hikaru and Izumi? And why can't you reciprocate that connection with Kanchou anymore?"

Jun rolled his eyes. "Well gee, let's come up with some for each, shall we?" He began ticking them off on his fingers. Yurika doesn't talk to me that much anymore, so why bother? And Hikaru just comes to me for writing help, not any real issues she has. And Izumi is not really a person I can talk to, not really. I mean, I can, but I always feel weird about it." Ryoko stroked her chin in thought. "Well, what about me? We're talking now, aren't we?"

The blue-haired man looked away. "Well, Ryoko… no offense at all by it… but you're more of a friend of a friend, you know? Don't get me wrong," he rushed, raising his hands defensively, "you're a good friend and all, but all I can see you as is a friend of a friend." Jun bit his lip, afraid that the angered Ryoko or something similar.

Looking up however, he saw that Ryoko was now standing and pacing between Hikaru and Izumi's bunks and the wall. "Well, I guess that's pretty accurate. Hell, I'm not sure either." She paused. "Jun, you seem like a timid person, or at least among us, you know? Like the person trying to restore order in a room of monkeys. Monkeys like me because, guess what, I'm a pretty out of control person. That's exactly why Itsuki's in love with, but hates about me too."

Jun relaxed back into the chair, defeated. "So we're complete opposites." Ryoko sat back down on her bed and nodded. Yeah, pretty much. Out of control, in control…"

Jun rolled his dark blue eyes. "Great. Now it sounds like I'm babysitting." Ryoko laughed. "Oh don't worry, Junny, I can be the little sister you never had if you want."

Jun sighed, exasperated. "Ryoko, you are so freaking weird."

"Oh, give me a break. I'm on of the Three Angels. I'm supposed to be weird."

~*~

Ruri set down the controller to one of her favorite games, Kanji Tetris, ad wrapped her arms around her lower abdomen. Her amber eyes closed tightly as she attempted to will away the waves of pain that radiated there, even though she knew it was no wound and she was incapable of healing her self. She slowly, tentatively, relaxed as the cramp faded away, waiting for it to hit again.

When it didn't, Ruri sighed in relief and exasperation. She had known for a while that she was soon going to get her menstruation period, but the actual intensity of the pain was much worse than expected.

Luckily, Ruri was alone on the bridge, with Minato sleeping in and Yukina attempting to catch up in her studies. The Jovian girl occasionally dropped in to the bridge to complain about whatever subject she was going over at the moment, but she wasn't there then, thank the Gods.

'It's odd,' thought the Computer Operator as she picked up her controller again, 'how even I, the culmination of our world's greatest technology, must yield to nature still.' But she quickly retracted her thought. It may have seemed as though she was the product of technology, but she was no longer. There was one who qualified for that title more than she: Lapis Lazuli.

The girl who was created to be a copy of Ruri, capable of doing everything the Princess of Peaceland could. The girl created in a laboratory but was an obvious failure. The story was much like the one Ruri had fabricated to explain Omoikane's existence without giving away the fact that he was a robot. It all seemed so long ago.

But Omoikane and Lapis were very different. Omoikane was like a brilliant, yet inquisitive child. He was often seen as the spirit of the happiness on the ship, and a complete opposite of Ruri. But Lapis seemed sorrowful, uncaring, and more mechanical than even a machine. What really frightened Ruri was that she acted exactly like Lapis, at least before.

Ruri bit her lip in thought. It was against her better judgment, but she had to do it. Looking up her code on the computer, she typed it into her communicator, and connected to what could possibly be considered her clone.

Lapis's face appeared before Ruri's. The girl on the Gardenia blinked before asking, "what is your inquiry, Princess Notsumote Hoshino Ruri of Peaceland?"

Ruri paused. There was no room for awkwardness, especially between them. So she decided to treat the situation as if she was asking a search from the computer. After all, if Lapis was more mechanical than even Omoikane, it was best to be clear and concise. "Who created you, and why?" asked the silver-haired girl.

Lapis's face showed no expression as she stated the answer. "I was created by Nergal Heavy Industries and Asuka Incorporation to be just as successful as you, the first Electronic Fairy."

Ruri had never heard that term in her life, let alone be called it. "What is an Electronic Fairy?"

Lapis's tone actually fluctuated the tiniest bit. It almost sounded like frustration to the ears of a girl who had previously spoken like that. "I am an Electronic Fairy. You are an Electronic Fairy. My partner, Makibi Hari, is an Electronic Fairy. If your own partner, Sarutahiko Omoikane, was human, he too would be an Electronic Fairy." She paused, and her tone went back to her monotonous ring. "An Electronic Fairy is a Nanomachine-Computer Operator, and a Life's Messenger according to the Pentakami religion."

That made sense. Until Lapis and Hari, Ruri was sure she was one of a kind. The fact that Lapis did not mention any others caused Ruri to believe they were still rare. But it was one thing to be rare and another to be beneficial. Obviously, they were one and the same when it came to them, but why?

"Why are we so important to humanity?"

Her tone was like before; calm, monotone, and mechanical. "In this day and age, technology is the fastest growing power. More so than even life. Technology's future power will be only wielded by the Electronic Fairies."

'But life and technology are so alike to us…' "We can also heal."

"Thus we have the ability to control humanity." There was slight twitch of Lapis's mouth, the slight tremor of a smile. Even her tone had a drop of arrogance in it.

Ruri's silver eyebrows gathered at this bold statement. "No one can control humanity. Humanity is its own entity and has the power to control itself."

"Wrong." With that simple word, Ruri felt a powerful rage flare in her chest. How could she be wrong? It was one of the character lessons she learned on the ship. And she was not always right, but she knew she was about this one.

However, before she could retort to the near mirror image in the window, she head on of the side doors open and close. Frantic, she closed the window immediately as she saw that the intruder was her brother.

Prince Notsumote Ariko of Peaceland looked very similar to his older sister, in ways that made people wonder about their parents. He possessed her silver hair and albino-like pale skin, but his hair was also wavier than her own, not to mention that his eyes were blue, not golden like the older. It was these blue eyes that glared at the princess, who had pretty much been caught with her pants down.

"Oneesama, why were you just talking to her?" There was no need to ask whom he was talking about. The subject of Lapis had been bouncing around in the grapevine branch that was the younger crewmembers.

"Information." Talking to Lapis had gotten Ruri into the habit of being clear, concise, and boring, if not monotonous. Ariko fisted his hands on his hips, still somehow keeping hold of his clipboard. "Why do you need information on that girl?"

A flash of golden gaze made him wonder as to what Ruri's concern was. After all, it was apparent in her expression. "I wanted to know why Lapis exists." Ariko shrugged and sat down in Minato's seat, spinning it to face his big sister. "Why does anyone exist?"

"No, it's not a philosophical question. Lapis was created for a purpose. To be another me." At that, Ruri interlocked her fingers and focused on the white circles on her hands. "The only reason I act the way I do is because of arrogance. Arrogance born out of being the only one with my power. You understand what I mean; Higher grade nanomachines in my blood to control nearly all aspects of technology, not to mention the ability to heal. But with Lapis and Hari being who they are, I'm not quite as, how should I put it, SPECIAL as before. And as it's been proven, with time, Nanomachine Computer Operators, or 'Electronic Fairies' I suppose is the correct term, will be a dime a dozen. So there is no longer a reason for me to be arrogant any longer. But I can't exactly change who I am so quickly."

The idea that Ruri felt that she needed to change to fit her circumstances somewhat hurt Ariko, odd for someone that was to just be an ear. He liked the way his sister was, happy with who she was as a person and her career. She may not show that happiness, but the fact that she had not left so long ago showed her love for her job and the people around her, not to mention herself. The thought that Ruri may change that because of two kids they had just met a few days ago was near traumatizing to the boy that almost idolized his sister nowadays. "But… couldn't you still be better than them? You're more experienced and all, so aren't you still at the top?"

Ruri sighed pulling her hands apart, but still looking at the markings on her hands that condemned her and gave her power. "Possibly. However, the rarity of what I am is lowered, and will never rise again. Besides, I may be the most experienced now, but one day that will change. In short, my own personal value will soon diminish."

Ruri's pale face seemed more bleak and sorrowful than Ariko had ever seen it. Suddenly he was afraid if his sister might do something she may soon regret. "Oneesama… are you okay?"

Oddly enough, she nodded, still looking sorrowful. "I'm fine. It was bound to happen someday. I couldn't be the only computer prodigy forever."

~*~

It wasn't all that odd for Hikaru and Izumi to walk together to breakfast. Ryoko never walked with them, but it wasn't malicious. She was always either sleeping in, or never even slept at home at all, having spent the night at Itsuki's room. But that morning they found Ryoko's bed mussed, but empty. So the two more odd Angels were intending to find out just where their third had disappeared to so early in the morning.

And find out they did, as they entered the cafeteria. Their table was occupied, but only by others who also claimed the table their own. Itsuki, Gai, Akito, and the subject of their search Ryoko all sat going through some odd papers. Izumi walked over and picked one up as she greeted the others. "What are these?"

"Blueprints," answered Gai gruffly, as if annoyed at the others there. Itsuki glared at him. "I thought we talked about this."

Hikaru sat down next to the man in question. "Talked about what? Who am I? What are those? Who are you?" Ryoko kicked her. "Hikaru, don't be a retard." Gai crossed his arms. "About the house thing. I still don't know if I'm okay with all you people living in my house."

Itsuki sweetly batted her eyes. "And I told him he had to get used to it, since that's what we agreed on." Izumi picked up another sheet. "So these are the blueprints of your mansion?"

"Yeah." Hikaru's eyes lit up at Gai's nonchalant answer. "The house?! Lemme see those Izumi, please?"

"No, you crazy woman." Jun took that moment to walk in, noting that Hikaru was emphasizing how short she was in comparison to her best friend, and much kicking under the table. "Why do I always show up when people are fighting? What's going on you barbarians?"

Akito laughed. "Yeah, these people, I swear." Gai cuffed him in the head. "Ow, you fucker!" Rubbing his head, the Martian answered Jun. "We're looking at the blueprints that Itsuki stole and picking out our rooms."

Izumi furrowed her brow are another sheet. "Why is it only two floors? I thought it was a mansion."

Gai stopped kicking Itsuki long enough to shrug. "It is, but land prices, you know. Can't have a place too huge. It IS Japan, after all." Itsuki stopped kicking altogether, her expression turning a bit sad. "That, and Yamada Manor and Kazamo Manor were built to compliment each other. But Kazamo Manor's gone…"

"PUH-LEASE don't suddenly get depressed Itsuki. We'll have enough of that with us landing today," whined Ryoko. Hikaru sat back down, out of the loop. "We're landing today? I didn't think we were almost there."

"Yeah. We're supposed to be almost to the Big Barrier before lunch, and we should be landing in the afternoon."

The redhead glanced around the empty cafeteria. "Wow."

Gai nodded. "Seriously. Anyway, me and Akito have my room, and Itsuki and Ryoko ran off with Itsuki's room. The others are free game."

Izumi pointed at a room on the page in her hand. "I want the bedroom with the millions of bathrooms. It looks weird." Hikaru stomped her foot. "Damn you Izumi! I wanted that one!"

Gai leaned back and closed his eyes in thought. "I think there's still two bedrooms left… yeah. The guest house bedroom and that other one right next to the guest house." Itsuki found the correct pages and put them together. "Or these two right here."

Hikaru scrunched up her face. "Well, I'll take the one still connected to the house, unless you don't want to be all by yourself, Junny." Jun shook his head, looking over the page. "I don't mind. In fact, I think I wanted the guest house anyway."

Akito glared at all the others. "I think there should have been more blood over the rooms." Hikaru rolled her eyes. "Akito, I think you're more of a sick fuck than I am."

Izumi snorted. "No one's more of a sick fuck than you, Hikaru." The redhead elbowed her. "Shut up, Izumi! What other kind of rooms are there?"

Gai started ticking them off on his fingers. "Well, we got like two libraries… there's the bar, I guess, but only because Jun's the only one legal for a few more months… there's those weird mirror rooms, I swear my parents were crazy… Um, a huge ass kitchen… oh, that pool in the back… and that indoor hot tub, if that's anything…"

Hikaru raised her arms up, cheering. "SWEET!"

Akito smiled, but it fell slowly. "Dude… it's gonna be weird living in the same house." Jun shook his head. "No, I don't think so. We essentially are living in the same house right now, right?"

"Yeah, but… It's going to be weird. Different." Gai, listening in, nodded. "That's for sure…"

Hikaru bit her lip. "Well, if we're landing today, maybe we should go start pulling out shit together?" Just about everyone got up and nodded, heading towards his or her respective rooms.

~*~

Those who normally sleep in, or just about everyone else followed their example until lunch, packing up their things in boxes and basically cleaning up their rooms to the sterile state they were in three years ago. So around lunch, everyone was extremely tired. Immediately after the gardenia had cleared them to go through the barrier, they sat down to eat and restore themselves for the mania that would be later on that day.

Yurika sighed as she spun her Mars Cola bottle on the table. "Minato, Ruri, I've decided. I don't want to be an idol singer."

Minato raised an elegant light brown eyebrow. "Where did that come from?"

"Well, we're being kicked off the ship officially today, and most of us may be having problems figuring out what we're going to do now. And I won that rock-paper-scissors match after you gave up the contract, Ruri. But I don't think I want to sing for a career. I want to do something else. Maybe I'll go back to college or something, but I don't want to sing. That's all there is to it."

Minato nodded, running a hand through her hair. "So what are you going to do with the contract?" Before Yurika could answer, she interrupted by two of the best Nadesico cooks arguing nearby.

"Sayuri, nobody does that anymore. They always try to burn for energy or something. Recycling is just a whole bunch of bull!"

"Don't give me that crap, Akito! Recycling SAVES energy and saves materials! We really should!"

"There's no point in bothering because we're going back to Earth today, woman!"

"Don't call me woman you uncaring miserable bastard!"

Yurika rolled her eyes before opening her pocket case, taking the contract out. "I might as well just throw it out, since I have nothing else better to do with it."

The ranting blue-haired cook ran over to their table, snatching the papers out of Yurika's hands. "Kanchou, you just have to recycle it, even just to show this POMPOUS ASS what's best for our expansive environment!" Akito fisted his hands on his hips. "Sayuri, now you're just being dumb. Yurika, you don't have to do as the crazy woman says if you don't want to."

Yurika took back the papers, fixing them so they were straight once again. "She has a point though… it is kind of a waste to just throw it out, ne?" Minato nodded. "That's true. That could be someone's entire future in those papers there."

Akito walked over and glanced over Yurika's shoulder. "What are they, anyway?" Yurika turned to face her former "true love". "That idol singing contract I won. I don't want to do that for the rest of life, so I don't know what to do with it."

Light appeared in Sayuri's face. "Oh, Kanchou, don't you see what you have? A chance! I'd love to have a great thing like that. Don't you just toss it away, because that would be just foolish." Yurika sighed. "But I don't want it. I can't just do something I hate."

Akito scratched his chin for a minute before he took the contract out of Yurika's hands. He then handed it to the girl he was just arguing with. "There's your recycling for ya. Now you and the other girls have a job when you get off." Sayuri's jaw dropped. "Kanchou, are you okay with… Akito giving me this???"

Yurika smiled and hit her forehead. "Duh, give it away! Now I feel dumb and blonde, ne?" Akito nodded, smiling evil at her. "Of course, Yurika. I'm the one with the brains in that old outfit, if you don't remember."

Yurika slugged his arm. "Go away, Akito. God, you're such a fucker!" Akito saluted coyly and did as told, heading back to the kitchen. The second he passed the double doors however, all five of the How Mei girls attacked the poor boy, hugging him until they were sure he was dead. Hokashiro How Mei herself only looked on in amusement until they were done thanking him. "You know, Akito, if you weren't gay, you'd be a heartbreaker."

Akito snorted. "But I'm only half gay, and I AM a heartbreaker if you couldn't tell. Oh, them ladies. Can't keep their hands off me."

How Mei laughed. "Arrogance will get you panned, kind sir, and you lost me my crew for my restaurant, you asshole. Now I have to somehow recruit my husband."

Akito twitched in confusion. "You're MARRIED, Miss How Mei? How exactly does that work?!?" How Mei rolled her eyes. "I'm Chinese, Akito. Why do you think I have a Japanese last name?"

"Dude, what's his name and do I get to meet him?"

"Hokashiro Gareiru. Of course you get to meet him, this is the last meal anyone will be having on the Nadesico anyway. I'll introduce you when we get off."

Mentioning the fact that the Nadesico's legacy was almost over, Akito felt the pang of sadness once again. "Wow… I forgot that. That's so sad… I won't ever cook with you again, Miss How Mei!"

Again, How Mei rolled her eyes. "Hey now, there's always my restaurant. It's going to be in Tokyo, and if you're living in Kawasaki it's just a little drive."

Akito nodded. "Okay, maybe I'll come work for you." How Mei fisted her hands on her hips and waggled a finger in his face. "with, not for, Akito. And there will always be spots for my kids."

Akito smiled and raised his eyebrows. "Your kids?"

"You, Sayuri, Mikako, Junko, Eri, and Harumi. You know, my kids! I've helped you grow up and all, after all."

Akito shook his head, grinning. "Whatever you say, Miss How Mei."

~*~

The bridge was completely occupied by all staff members as the Nadesico cleared the atmosphere. Those who did not work on the bridge waited eagerly wherever they did for the announcement over the emergency lines. And that announcement did come, as Yukina pulled up the code for it and punched it in, setting the Captain of the Nadesico up to speak to her crew for perhaps the last time.

Yurika took a deep breath before she began to pout her heart out to those who were her family for three years straight. "Everybody, I'd like to start out by saying you've all done a great job. Maybe the knowledge that you've made it this far is enough, but I'd like you to understand that I appreciate all you've done, whether it was just your job or not, during this trip. We've gone through a lot on this trip, haven't we? We've built enough memories on this ship to last us a lifetime, enough to have tales to tell our children, enough to be important names in the society we will be reentering. I'd just… like to say thanks for being here. Thanks for dealing with all the bungling about I've done. Thanks for all you've done, and most of all, thanks for sticking behind each other when we all needed it most. We've seen enough life and death to traumatize us for life, but nobody has gone insane yet. You're all so strong-willed and powerful. Don't ever forget that. And please, if you would, keep in touch. Never be afraid to drop me a line, or anybody else one for that matter. This door may be closing, but we will remember the room we are leaving now always, ne? And there are hundreds of doors in front of you, choose your door wisely, and I wish you all the best of luck in your life. Goodbye, all." The window didn't close, but Yurika had to stop speaking anyway. She felt tears welling up in her eyes. For someone that hated to fight, but was good at it, she certainly did not want to leave her home.

Ruri sighed. "Kanchou, you make it all sound so final." Yurika turned her gaze to the silver haired girl one level below. "The Nadesico has done so much for me, for everyone. I'm sure many agree, but it hurts to think that this will be the end of all we have here. This ship will always be home, and I will always be the Computer operator, even before being a Princess. We are and always will be a family." Ruri finally turned to face Yurika, looking her in the eyes, utter respect and even some sadness reflecting in those amber eyes of hers.

Akito nodded, touched by what the seemingly unfeeling girl had to say in response to Yurika's heartfelt speech. "That pretty much sums it up, I think." Yurika glanced at the others. "Do you all feel this way?"

Minato nodded. "My family came out of this ship. This will always be home, even above Earth." Viktor slapped his hand on his seat. "Of course it's true, Kanchou! We would not have come back after the mutiny if we had no faith in you."

Goat stood and walked over to where Yurika stood, wrapping his massive arms around her body, giving her the hug nobody thought anyone but Minato received, ever. "the Nadesico will always be home to most of us, if not all."

Admiral Fukube stood with the help of his cane, finding that he absolutely had to say something here, rather than stay silent as usual. "The ship is home, Kanchou. The crew is family, and everything that has happened thus far is our legacy. It's only natural to feel separation anxiety and depend on each other. This ship and it's crew has stuck together longer than many have."

Yurika let go of Goat and ran to Fukube, hugging him as tightly as she could, feeling her tears emerge from her eyes. "I think I'll miss you most of all, Admiral. You've taught me so much in the short times you've been here…"

Fukube patted her back. "Now, now, we both know there's someone else you'll miss more than me, the old coot." When she looked at him to refute the statement, he nodded his head at someone on the lowest level. Yurika turned to see Akito sit back down in his seat. She smiled sadly. "You're right. I will miss someone else more."

~*~

TBC…

~*~

A/N: That took far too long to write/type. I'm so sorry it took so long, people. Well, I threw in some random Akito and Yurika friction to try to get the die-hard fans to come back… that and it was random. Well, with the end of the school year, the goodbye speeches were simple, with me keeping in mind that many of my friends won't be there next year. ;_; Anyway, I put lots of stuff in here to keep you happy and I really do apologize for the hiatus. Well, we'll get to deal with all the confusion of landing next chapter, and I apologize again. 


	5. Spread like butter, not as sweet

A/N: Thank the lack of restriction! I'll try my damnedest to catch up now! ^^ Well, this time we'll get to see lots of craziness and all, think airport with a 747 and several boxes per person. Holy shiznits ^^ Anyway, there will be deterioration, random people that may only show up once or twice, and underage cuteness. ^^ Since we all already remember what happened last time, let's get started right freaking away!

~*~

Luckily for some of the crew, the ship landed at Yokosuka Bay, as it had that Christmas when Akito got ejected and Itsuki injected herself into Ryoko's life, all that time ago. At any rate, the crowds of people were still there, but they weren't all condemning the Nadesico. In fact, at least half of them were singing their praises while the others wanted them to just freaking leave.

But once the ship came to a complete halt inside one of the bay's ports, there were no people. It was silence, except for the sighs of relief and sadness around the ship. Immediately a communication window was patched. A UEAF official was on the other end. "Well, it's about time." Yurika, dressed no longer in her captain's uniform, but in a purple tank dress, smiled at the man in the window. "Captain Misumaru Yurika of the Nadesico requesting permission to unload crew and cargo."

"Permission granted indefinitely, Nadesico. Freight crew standing by to aid in the unburdening of your ship. Permission also granted to your escort, the Gardenia." It took Yurika a moment to realize that Kaguya must be in another port asking the same of the man. "Thank you very much for your kindness, sir!" She flashed him her heartwarming smile before Yukina closed the window. She sighed. "Well people, let's be ready to smile for the cameras, ne?" Reluctantly, she herself stood from her seat, tugging at the bottom of her skirt to get rid of the wrinkles. "Don't worry about your stuff, okay?" she said as she pulled the Master Key out of the console, possibly for the last time. "If I know anything about these unloadings, they'll make sure it's alphabetized for your convenience, that is if you did do as asked and wrote your names in either hiragana or katakana on your boxes, okay? So, without further ado, let us be off."

And off the ship they went, congregating in the hanger that the ship had docked. Others were already there, familiar faces, but they too were also in civilian clothing, so their old jobs on the Nadesico were near incomprehensible to those who didn't already know their faces. People all gathered near those they had grown close to on the ship during her journeys.

People brought some of their more precious cargo with them off the ship, but one had an odd sense of "more precious". Inez handed Izumi some diagrams and charts, then willed her away to where she chose to go, which, of course, was near a pile of already-unloaded boxes where the other pilots had gathered.

Hikaru shifted her white duffel on her shoulders as her best friend walked over. "Welcome to Losers anonymous, please take the first step." Izumi, glancing through the papers Inez had handed her, monotonously answered Hikaru, "Hello, my name is Izumi and I am a loser."

Akito walked behind her and glanced over her shoulder, "What're those?" Izumi turned her head to see the Martian man, but quickly shielded her eyes. "Aqua's bullshit, Akito! You freaking neon sign! You trying to attract perverted drunks for strippers and whores?"

"Hey now! I take offense to that!" shouted Gai, smiling. Izumi did have a point. The woman in question glared at him. "Who dressed this retard? Why the fuck is he wearing the brightest freaking pink shirt I've ever seen?"

"I dressed my damn self, Izumi! I happen to like pink, you bitch!" Akito picked a piece of lint off his obscenely bright pink shirt, partly obscure by his blue and white plaid shirt over it. "Pink and purple are my favorite colors, I'll have you know-"

"It's official, Gai, your boyfriend is a pansy," snickered Ryoko. Jun elbowed her. "If he's a pansy, what does that make me?"

"Pitiful."

Before Jun could retort to the tomboy, the crew of the Gardenia came to crash the party, as noted as a certain Jovian pilot wrapped his arm around Jun's neck. "She's right, you know," interjected Saburota with a wink to the Executive Officer of the Nadesico. "You shouldn't let a man who's favorite colors are pink and purple be perfectly capable of kicking your ass. It lops your balls off. Not that you're using them now, eh, or ARE you?" With that, Jun's face got horribly red and he tried to pry Saburota's arm off his shoulders.

When he broke free, he wrapped his arms around himself. "So what if I'm not? At least I'm not flirting with people I've barely met, Takasugi-san!" Hikaru giggled. "Itsuki, you know best about flirtation before friendship, was that too subtle or was I just dumb?"

The violet-haired woman smiled at the memory. "Actually, Hikaru, you aren't dumb, and it wasn't subtle, it wasn't there at all. Jun's just freaking paranoid." Before Jun could stop stammering to rescue himself, Hikaru giggled then poked Saburota in the chest. "Besides, what's wrong with being a virgin at 22, or almost 23? I'm almost 21 myself." She paused, then turned to her friends. "My Goddess of Air, people. Do you realize that we're all almost legal?"

Gai rolled his eyes. "I won't be legal for AGES, so don't get me started, Miss Hikaru." Ryoko rolled her eyes. "Horrible that the tallest one happens to be the youngest." He slapped her head and then refused to admit it was he. Ryoko punched his arm.

Saburota leered a bit at Hikaru. "Well, my dear, we could always get going at trying to fix that little 'virgin' problem of yours-" He had to stop abruptly, as a certain Communications Officer kicked him in the knees.

"Saburota-san, why are you such a freaking PERVERT!? I swear, we can't let you go ANYWHERE!" Mari fumed at the pant and rock mage. Itsuki raised her eyebrows at her. "I'm sorry, but this is a meeting of Losers Anonymous. I don't believe you're on the list."

Before Mari could retort, Inez called out, setting up her easel. "Izumi, darling, give me though diagrams, would you? It appears the perfect time to enlighten Miss Erina on exactly what these protestors are against." The blue-haired woman did not have to look back. She could hear the smirk in her voice, which means that Inez and Erina were at odds, again. Strange for the women that were supposedly together in the past. She did turn, however, to leave her group of friends and give what she held in her hands to Inez. "What are the protestors against, pray, Inez?" she asked as she handed them over and her blonde lover set them up on her easel.

"Oh, well, if you don't know, I'll say in this episode." Izumi's confused look disappeared as Inez donned her green baseball hat, ready to start a live-action episode of "Naze Nani Nadesico". Immediately communications windows popped up.

"Hello, and welcome to the new season of Naze Nani Nadesico, and if you did not know that I am Inez Fressange, thank the Gods that you never get sick or have problems." Laughter cracked, and she waited for silence before beginning again. "Today we will be discussing what exactly the Ultimate Key to the Computer does, or rather, did, and how this affects the world we will be reentering soon. But first, how world is now, even without this knowledge." She cleared her throat. "With the rediscovery of Ninlan, people became once again aware of the force called magic. Religious groups and Realists alike could not accept that it is true. They began ostracizing pilots and those born on Jupiter, because they were capable of using magic, something that can change both nature and the minds of men. Many saw this as unnatural, and that it was unfair that some humans have more powers than others." Murmuring among those who were just normal humans began. "Settle please! Not to mention, that while they were on the same level, pilots ostracized Jupiterians because of their ability to not only use magic, but to Jump made them envious. But what those pilots don't know, is that before the war was even over, they had the ability to Jump themselves."

Immediately faces turned toward the pile of boxes where most of the pilots stood. Hikaru's mind flashed back to when she accidentally Jumped to the cafeteria when she was late. Ryoko thought of when she Jumped the Nadesico to Satsuki Midori. Some of the faces that stared at them were full on them were incredulous, others were near offended. But they slowly but surely turned back, awaiting the explanation as to why from the Martian doctor.

"Martians and Jupiterians are born with nanomachines in their blood, which rewrite their DNA so they can withstand the electromagnetic waves involved in Jumping. But pilots and others have had nanomachines injected into their blood after their birth. We had already discovered that nanomachines themselves don't make a person capable of Jumping, so what happened that made them capable?" She flipped a page on her easel, one that now showed the plate that many knew about, but forgot.

"This disk, this plate, this thing is the Ultimate Key to the Computer. And by Computer, I mean Boson Jump Computer, as you all know. It was this device that ordered nanomachines in the blood of children to rewrite their DNA so that they could use the Computer and Teleport. And what purpose does a key have but to unlock?

"After studying exactly what it would do, I inserted the key a while ago and unlocked the computer, which opened a file within that was held secret. This file ordered all existing nanomachines in the blood of humans that, if they had not already worked with the person's DNA, they were to do so now." She flipped a page, and a diagram of exactly how that worked was shown.

"So, now pilots, Martians, Jupiterians, and even Ninlandish mages are the same in everything but heritage. They can no longer ostracize each other, as humans and now, I suppose they could be called, Jumpers already do. Are there any questions?"

Izumi lifted a hand. "I suppose many of us are thinking as such, and I do not mean it maliciously, however, why did you not tell us?"

"When was there time? You first all had to come to terms with being mages and healers before you could come to terms with being able to Jump. Of course, your resilience when it came to magic showed that you could handle the information, but there was never time to say that would not be traumatizing."

"As if this isn't traumatizing," murmured Itsuki. When Inez gazed in her direction, she spoke louder, directly at the woman. "We're just now having to figure out how we're going to go on our day-to-day activities with no Nadesico, and you heap this random tidbit of information on us?"

"You needed to know before you realize exactly why those protestors out there hate you. It only seems to appear that discrimination still plagues our society, even in this day and age." That seemed to satisfy Itsuki, at least a bit. She saw the people outside with their picket signs. "Mages back to Ninlan" happened to be one that caught her eye and repulsed her.

"My question is, exactly what this will do to our society as we know it," contemplated Erina, running a hand through her black hair. Inez regarded her former lover with a sense of questioning herself. "I don't quite know that. Perhaps you'd like to tell us?"

"Well," Erina began to pace, "there already have been various schools of magic set up around the allied planets and colonies, but some may be in a state no less than uproar when this goes out, but out it must go, else wise we'll have mental hospitals filling to the brims with those that have Jumped, as everyone KNOWS pilots can't Jump. We'll have nothing short of chaos, Inez."

Mari shrugged. "Sometimes a little anarchy is good. Puts those who need it in their place." Saburota shook his head. "As spoken by a human."

A moment of silence crept over the rather large crowd of Nergal ship crewmembers. "Well, hell," sighed Gai. "I guess we have no choice. Can't win 'em all, ne?" Murmurs of agreement spread from where they stood, until Yurika nodded. "Daigoji-san's right, everybody. We won them their war, and if they can't be happy about that, they can shove it!"

~*~

As they left the hangar and waited for their stuff to be finished unloading, not to mention said hello and received welcomes from family members and such, it proved easier to just push the new information they just learned out of their heads, if only for the time being.

Yurika, being one of the first ones out, gasped as she saw the one person she had not really been able to speak to for three years: her father. Running up and hugging him was something she was not able to do as a captain, but now that she was no longer, she saw no reason to control herself. She had always been a daddy's girl, after all.

Surprisingly, there weren't that many parents. There were spouses, children, siblings, former coworkers, friends, and even employers abound, however, making it easy to lose each other in the swarm.

Hari was one of the lucky ones that had parents waiting for him, a large woman with black hair and pale skin was his mother, as his father was of a more normal height and much more effeminate looking than a man of his should be. It made Ruri wonder as to how Hari would ever grow into his gender standard.

Speaking of Ruri, her parents did not show up either, but rather the man with the hat, Sir Alfred Le Oeuvre was there, ready to pick up the two royal children. Ariko spotted him after her, crying out and running straight to him to embrace him. Alfred looked shocked at the behavior of the first prince, but as he saw Ruri walking over with a frown, but a shimmer in her eyes, he understood. They experienced the world first hand, and had been treated as adults, so had no real reason to be all bows and curtsies. A side of his mouth moved up and Ruri knew he understood. "You do know that Omoikane would have to come with me as well."

"Oh my, three disrespectful children in our castle? The Queen will never hear of it." The smile stayed on his face. "But the King will be delighted." Ruri smiled slightly, as she had preferred the nature of her father than her mother. Perhaps she too would become a daddy's girl.

However, the robot in question was too busy saying his farewells to his own "father". "Otousan, I'll miss you!" He heard his arms shriek in protest as he threw his arms around Uribatake, the only person other than Ruri that possibly did not see him exactly as the robot he was. To Ruri and Uribatake, Omoikane was Omoikane, not the computer, nor the program.

Uribatake took one of Omoikane's arms and moved it up and down, listening to the squealing of dry joints. "Oh don't worry about missing me Omoikane. Just remember to give me a call if you feel something not right about you… And you better get some oil on those shoulders when you get to Peaceland. Just tell Ruri and I'm sure she'll get something for you."

"You could just tell me yourself," came a lightly humored voice from behind them. Uribatake turned and smile at the Princess of Peaceland. "I wondered when I was going to get my hug from you." And hug her he did. She smiled at one of the most crazy, but nurturing adults on the ship. "I only wonder why Genji doesn't like you. If Omoikane ever does need assistance, I assure you, I will be on the shuttle with him."

Uribatake patted her head. "I'd have it no other way. Tell your brother he's allowed to come too, if he wants. Don't be a stranger, will you, Your Highness?"

Ruri frowned. "Only if you call me that. I am still just Ruri." Uribatake laughed. "You still don't see what's before you, do you? That's all right. Remember you all will always have a home with me, if you wish it, thought-daughter of mine." Ruri smiled at the mention that she was pretty much his daughter, but let him continue. "Well, Just Ruri, I suppose you'd best go and say goodbye to some others, ne? Write me a letter or something."

"I will." With that, the girl walked off with her best friend, in search of other such crazy adults that loved her. Uribatake, on the other hand, had to face his own family that had no part of the ship they lived on and loved.

"If only you had that sort of connection with Genji, it would be much harder to break us up." The Head Mechanic turned to see Uribatake Ayuko standing with her arms crossed. The sight of his wife made him wonder why exactly they had married, and where the reason was. "Where is he?"

"At home. He said he wanted to stay home, and he's old enough to, now." Seiya heard what was hidden in her voice. 'He's grown up without you. How do you feel about that?'

"Actually, I feel rather grateful for that. Proves to me that he doesn't need a bad father like me." Ayuko snorted. "You aren't a bad father. Look how you treat those two kids from the Nadesico. No, it goes deeper than that. We never were sure if Genji was yours or not, you know? Well, I checked." Seiya raised his dark brown eyebrows at his wife, possibly soon-to-be former wife. "He's not yours. He's… someone else's."

"I figured. He never did look like me or even act like me." Ayuko nodded, smiling sadly. "Sometimes children know who is supposed to be part of their lives, and who isn't. Wisdom before experience." Seiya nodded. "And God knows I haven't done much for him. Maybe I really am not supposed to be part of his life."

"No, I don't believe you were."

They seemed in their own bubble, but even bubbles are transparent. Hikaru watched from afar, feeling bad for being a force that worked against her best male friend's marriage to a seemingly nice woman. It was never great to know you helped in destroy things.

Hikaru was not the only one of the pilot intruding into a married couple's bubble. Akito followed How Mei directly to wear her husband stood with a bunch of flowers. As she dropped her duffel and took the flowers, hugged him, Akito surveyed the man. "Wow, Miss How Mei, he even looks about your age."

The Chinese woman turned to her assistant. "Are you calling me old, Akito?" The Martian cook immediately raised his hands in surrender. "But of course not, Miss How Mei. Why would I ever do a thing like that?" How Mei rolled her eyes before she quickly pecked her husband on the lips. "Hi there."

"Well, if you're going to bicker with that boy, you could at least introduce him to me." How Mei smiled. "Akito, this is my husband, Hokashiro Gareiru, Japanese cuisine specialist and coffee shop owner. Honey, this is Tenkawa Akito, one of my favorite assistants and the only one I roped into helping me with the restaurant."

The two men shook hands, but Gareiru couldn't help but notice Akito's. "A mage, eh? And if I know my colors, blue stands for water of some sort, right?" Akito nodded, taking back his hand and covering his nanocontroller. "Jumper, actually. And yes, blue is for water, though I'm ice." He bit his lip, keeping Inez and Erina's words in his head about many normal humans hating Jumpers.

Obviously, Gareiru noticed this, and slapped him lightly on the arm. "Oh calm down, boy, I'm not gonna murder you just because you're a Jumper, geez. I run a business! I see all kinds of people everyday. Frankly, I'm getting tired of those people that think it's unnatural. Their damn pamphlets are good for nothing but toilet paper."

"Gareiru! I don't think that was called for!" Nevertheless, How Mei couldn't keep her smile in. Akito grinned too, glancing at his new employer. "Miss How Mei, I think I like your husband. He's freakin' cool." How Mei rolled her eyes once again. "Akito, you are such a kid."

"Miss How Mei, you are so old." Akito ran off into the crowd before the Chinese cook could attempt to kill him with her bag of cooking utensils.

~*~

In another part of the port, Yurika was saying her final goodbyes to some of her more loyal members of her crew. "Honestly, Minato, I will call you and we WILL go shopping or something! You, me, and Megumi all need to go do something like that, you know?" Minato smiled at her former captain. "I suppose I'll have to remind you to no end, ne? I know you'll forget."

"I will not forget, I'll be too busy sitting at home being bored to think of anything else!" She turned to Ruri, who stood nearby. "And you'll come, perhaps, won't you, Ruri-chan?"

The Princess of Peaceland smiled slightly. "I'd love to, Kanchou. I'd simply love to." She bit her lip, thinking over the risks and benefits over the action she was going to do. Finally deciding that it was worth it, she threw her arms around Yurika's frame, burying her face in her chest, trying to smother herself in her captain, as if she would never be great if she didn't have that little help from the woman who had been nicer to her than her own mother. "Kanchou, I'll miss you terribly. Horribly. Please write to me, please?" Yurika wrapped her arms around her more-than daughter, placing her face in her silver hair. "Everyday, Ruri. I'll write you everyday. You always have a home at my place, even if my father kicks me out for it. We'll live together in an apartment if you want it, Ruri. Does that sound nice?" Ruri sighed at the thought of always having an authoritative figure from the ship around her. But she had Omoikane and Ariko in Peaceland.

"Kanchou, just please write to me. Call me. Visit me, I don't care. Just don't leave me to my own devices." Yurika squeezed once more before she pulled her away from her to look at her. Ruri had no tears in her eyes or on her cheeks, as Yurika suspected she had, but the loneliness was naked in her amber eyes. "Ruri, I know you need some guidance from those you trust. But you need to learn to be independent too. I know, you don't ask for help often either, but you've come to depend on us too much. I'll of course talk to you all you want, but you have to know that this is your chance to be on your own. Stand on your feet. Be as tall as you were on the ship, no one standing in your way, making others respect you and depend on you for what you have: knowledge. Just think of the Nadesico as your first step-up in the world. I can't wait till you take it over." Yurika grinned at the girl. And Ruri felt her mouth's corners crawl up, encouraged by what her former captain had said. "Arigato, Kanchou." With that, she allowed Yurika to let go of her, and she walked away, not looking back.

Yurika sighed in content, happy that she made one last move in the girl's young life. Jun, nearby, patted Yurika on the back. "That was really something you did for her, you know."

"Yeah, I know. But how could I not? That girl needed encouraging, and if encouragement is all she needs to succeed in her political, or even intellectual career, who am I to deny her that?"

"Which reminds me, have to decided what you're going to do now? Are you going to further your own career in the military?"

Yurika sighed. "Jun, I never had a career in the military. My dream was for people to know me as Misumaru Yurika, not Admiral Misumaru's daughter. I've done that now, so what am I to do now? Nothing I suppose."

"You do have one thing," mentioned a voice from behind them. Yurika and Jun turned to see Erina, Kaguya, and the pale Lapis. Kaguya and Lapis were not interested by the conversation, at least looked not, and were just standing by. Erina, however, was the one who had something to say to Yurika.

Yurika wasn't stupid. She may act like an airhead at times, but an airhead doesn't graduate top of her class from a military academy in Strategic Simulation. It just does not happen. Besides, Yurika could put two and two together. Erina was asking her, a full-blooded Martian, about some job. Obviously this was Jumping experiments. However, despite Akito's negative answer, Yurika was not Akito. "I'm listening."

"I'm sure you know, don't you? Hiratsuka isn't too far from Sasebo anyway, and that is where you father lives, is it not?" Yurika nodded. "You want to do new Jumping experiments."

"Not just that. Magic interests me too. Especially ones like yours. I'd like to see it first-hand, try to figure out how it works, if you don't mind." She paused. "You would get a paycheck, just name your salary."

Yurika glanced at Jun. He was shaking his head no. But Yurika was not Jun's property. He may give her some rather good advice, but this time didn't seem like one of those times. She needed something to keep her busy, and money was always a perk. She turned back to Erina. "I don't want any lower than eight million yen a year."

"I'll double it, if I must."

Yurika's green eyes widened, and she waved a hand. "By all means, if you feel it necessary."

"Oh, I do. Done, then. Sixteen million yen a year and you will be the main subject in the study of Boson Jumping and Pentakami Magic." She held out her hand." Yurika nodded and shook it, sealing the deal and handing back the Master Key to the CEO of Nergal. Erina's painted lips turned up. "You won't be regretting this."

"I hope you won't either." With a nod to them, Yurika walked away, Jun tailing her.

Needless to say, the Executive Officer of the Nadesico was just slightly peeved. "Yuri- I mean, Kanchou, what on Earth are you thinking? You just accepted to be Nergal's guinea pig, no better than Kaguya or even that poor girl Lapis! Are you mad?"

One look from Yurika was enough to silence him. "No, Jun. I'm moving on. I'm moving on from Nagare and making a use of my birthright skills. I'm doing what I feel I must. Akito always refused Erina, and refused us the knowledge about Jumping that we needed until the very last minute. Well, I won't let that same mistake be made about magic and Jumping again. Besides, she came to me. Kaguya must not be fit for it any longer, or maybe she wants another subject. In any case, she's the one that was fishing, and the fisherman needs the fish to be what he is."

"Even if the fish suffers?"

"Yes, even if the fish suffers." Yurika sighed. They were getting close to yelling at each other. "I don't need this from you, Jun. I'll call you, okay?" At Jun's numb nod, she walked away, and Jun realized that he probably lost Yurika to that witch Erina because of his protests. He hung his head, walking in the other direction. If he had only kept his mouth shut.

~*~

In yet another part of the port, a certain Peaceland Prince was becoming hear tearful at the prospect of losing contact with his Jovian best friend. "Oh, Yukina, you don't know what it's going to be like! The only person interesting to talk to will be Omoikane, and that dumb robot only hangs out with Ruri, and she's boring!" Yukina rolled her eyes. "So run away and come live with us! Minato won't mind."

"Excuse me, young lady, I WOULD mind! Of course, you're always welcome at our house, Ariko-chan, but not when you're running away just because you're bored! Your parents will have our heads!" Yukina had forgotten that Minato was just coming back from saying goodbye to Yurika.

"No they wouldn't, Minato-san! Well, Okaasama might, but Otousama would be all right with it!"

"Then I'll serve them your head, would that suffice?" asked Yukina, grinning. Ariko scowled and punched her arm. "You better start being nice to me or I won't write to you!"

"Why should I feel threatened? You're the one begging for a more-than-occasional fix of me."

"Aw, Yukina…" Minato began to laugh. She handed Yukina a pen. "Here, give the poor boy the address before he whines himself into oblivion." Yukina grinned and grabbed the boy's hand, writing all the information as neatly as she could on a body part. Letting go, her smile explained it. "If only to piss off your mom."

Minato rolled her eyes. "Yukina, language." Yukina sighed. "Sorry, Minato." Ariko flapped his hand, trying to dry it quickly. "I'll write to you the second I get home."

"Jeez, someone's desperate…"

"Yukina!"

~*~

There were still some final goodbyes in progress when seven certain pilots' ride arrived. Akito gave the How Mei girls his final group-hug before going and meeting back with his friends. "Remember me and Miss How Mei when you're famous, okay?" Hikaru was busy giving her information to Uribatake before he went back home to the family that was not really his. "And I know you live in Tokyo, so please come safe me once and a while from the losers I'm going to be living with, okay?" And Inez and Izumi were saying goodbye until time allowed them to see each other again. "I'll be in Hiratsuka. Come drop in on me sometime, and if I'm in your area, I'll do this same. Call me, darling."

The sheer lack of readiness to go greatly annoyed Gai, who didn't have to say goodbye to anyone, just as Itsuki and Ryoko didn't have to. "If we could leave today, please! Brigit's already here with the car and all our crap's been stuffed in it, so can we please GO!" Gai was answered by a purple file folder being flung in his direction, not to mention threats of sandals and wooden spoons being thrown at him as well. Hikaru stomped her foot. "Aer-dammit, Gai, shut up! It's only about six, shit man! Acting like it's freaking past curfew…"

Uribatake laughed. "Well, you don't have to worry about curfew anymore, now, do you?" Hikaru shook her head. "Hey, that means I could sneak out of the house and nobody will care!"

"Well, keep in mind that I didn't suggest it… So it's not my fault." Hikaru stuck out her tongue. "Yeah, well, you can bite me. Anyway, Gai's being a time-nazi-"

"I am not!"

"- so I figure I better go. Later, Uri-P!" Hikaru walked back over to where Jun, Gai, Itsuki, Ryoko, and now Akito stood.

Gai rolled his eyes. "Finally. Now all we're waiting for is for Izumi to stop her make-out session and then we can leave." He jerked a thumb behind his shoulder, and hit someone's face. Izumi rubbed her lower cheek. "Aqua, Gai. Any more to the left and it would have gone straight into my mouth."

"Niiiice there, Jiro. Watch out, Miss Fressange might get jealous," giggled Itsuki. Gai looked at her oddly. "What? Okay, obviously this has gotten to your head and you're being weird. Ass in car, now."

"The car" ended up being a rather nice SUV, the back and top full of boxes marked with the names of those climbing into said car. Gai sat up front with Brigit Dystel, a rather quiet woman with hip-length black hair and rather tan skin. Akito sat directly behind him, with Itsuki and Ryoko next to him. In the far back were Izumi, Jun, and Hikaru.

"So, Gai-chan, when we were here with the Nadesico, why the hell did you and Itsuki live in an apartment instead of in your mansion?"

Gai shrugged. "I think it was too soon, wasn't it, near-sister of mine?" Itsuki nodded. "Yeah, it wasn't too much after our parents died in Kazamo Manor, so we were a little anti-mansion for a while. Hey, nobody minded, and we certainly didn't at the time."

"But you would now, eh?" asked Ryoko. Itsuki nodded again. "the Nadesico was one big ass ship, if you have one hell of a horrible memory, and we already insisted on all living together until we became upright, boring adults with two-point-five children and a golden retriever, ne?"

Hikaru blew a raspberry. "Us? Upright adults? Fuck no. Kids? We're kids our damn selves." Jun rolled his eyes. "Speak for yourself, oh gracious one in pigtails." Hikaru rolled her eyes. "Oh, Junny, may I point you in the direction of your collection of crappy teenage thrillers? I at least threw all mine out."

"Shut up shut up shut UP!"

Ryoko reached back and whacked Jun's head. "Practice what you preach, pyro! Shit man, that was right in my fucking ear!"

Izumi sighed and rolled her eyes. "You're completely right, Hikaru, we're total and complete children." When the redhead she was speaking to turned to her, she pulled down her bottom eyelid and stuck her tongue out.

Gai sighed. "If this is any sign of what it's going to be like when we get home…" Akito looked down at his hands clasped in his lap. "But we just left home." Jun glanced at the back of Akito's head. "Akito?"

Akito closed his eyes. "The Nadesico was the second home I ever had. I even called it, for a while, at least, my second Mars. But Mars and the Nadesico were different. On Mars I was alone, but happy. The Nadesico, I was happy, but I certainly wasn't alone. I just wonder… how this place will fair in comparison?"

Izumi, seated directly behind her fellow follower of Aqua, leaned forward and wrapped her arms around his neck, giving him a slightly awkward hug. Izumi and Akito had never been close, but who was to know what would happen within new walls, or so she thought. "Akito, you're dumb. You won't ever be alone. We can promise you that much."

Hikaru blew another raspberry. "Unless the baka ostracizes himself again. Emphasis on baka." Jun took his chances and smacked Hikaru on the arm. Hikaru's jaw dropped, and she turned in her seat to beat the living shit out of one of the weakest in the car.

Itsuki's collapsed into her hand, trying to hide her smile. As her childhood friend was saying before, if it was any sign of what was to happen when they got to Yamada Manor, its history of silence in its halls would be quickly abolished. She only wished they wouldn't wake the dead. The last thing she needed was her parents showing up as ghosts to nag her.

~*~

TBC…

~*~

A/N: Holy living crap. How much crap went into that, eh? Way too many goodbyes, but that only means there were that many relationships forged. All to end with this chapter? Do all friendships end with a farewell because of relocation? No. As for the beginning part, the explanation of the Key, it may have seemed a bit random, but it was required of me. Besides, I'd like to inform you all of one more little twist and explanation before they were all to head off to wherever they would all be going. Dear god it's going to be hard from here on out. @.@ I need to figure out how to say where we're looking, not to mention try the normal dialogue shit, the now rather normal exposition, and then the random things such as letters, phone calls, and even news reports. (Yes, you heard right, News Reports. They'll become important, don't worry.) So this is one of possibly many turning points in this story. It sets the stage and the set in the background, at the very least. Well, you all know the drill, I'll let you to your own devices. 


	6. Touching base

A/N: Wow, I feel very not loved. Ignore me, eh? FEEL MY WRATH! Anyway… Oh well, fewer comments to make then. Since I don't have any questions to answer or anything… For a bit of recap, Inez explained why Ryoko and Hikaru were able to suddenly Jump, and everyone said goodbye and exchanged addresses and phone numbers. This time, people get to reconnect over the communications lines known as email and snail mail, and some people get the jobs they need to stay un-bored. Pretty much just checking in with people and stuff. Let's get to it, eh?

~*~

It didn't take Itsuki too long to realize that they were going the wrong way. Or, rather, the way they weren't supposed to go. After all, there was a difference. "Brigit," she began, leaning forwards so she could easily be heard by the woman in the front seat, "Why are we going this way? Shouldn't we be going the other way?"

Brigit bit her lip. "Well, Miss, you must not have heard me. The regular road is out for maintenance this week, so we have to go this way." Gai crossed his arms. "It's not so much that she didn't hear as much as she wasn't listening. We should have stuck Ryoko in the far backseat."

Itsuki shot Gai a cold glare before continuing the ask Brigit why. "But… but… Brigit, this way goes right past-"

"I know Miss, and I apologize, but there is just no other way to get to the manor. If you'd like me to stop and take you to a hotel until road maintenance is complete…"

"No, Brigit, it's all right. We want to go home. Sit down, Itsuki." Gai mirrored her previous glare and the woman sat back in her seat huffily. Ryoko furrowed her brow at her lover. "What? What does this road go right past?"

"My house."

Ryoko drew her breath in her teeth. "Your house? But isn't it…"

"Yeah."

Hikaru leaned forward, confused. "Wait, I don't get it. What's so wrong about going past your house?" Itsuki turned her head to see the redhead. "There's a reason why I can't live there. But it's easier to explain when you see it, if you don't remember what happened there." Gai sighed. "I don't see why they don't remember. I mean, it's not everyday that something like that happens. But I guess since it's not a normal topic of conversation…"

Akito crossed his arms. "I don't see why you keep skirting around it. Why don't you just up and tell us?" Ryoko glanced at the Martian as Kazamo Manor came into view in the window. "Akito, turn around."

It was a fairly nice old house, screaming fixer-upper with all the garbage and such in the yard, all but one thing. The entire left side of the house was smashed to pieces, a Chulip sitting in its place. It was firmly closed, possibly to never open, but it was there in its tall glory, leaning against what was left of the mansion, threatening to crash through the rest of it.

"Oh my Goddess of Fire…" whispered Jun, his gaze panning back to Itsuki. The woman licked her lips and swallowed before she could say anything. "It took out all of the west wing, which of course included my nanny's room and… the library, where both sets of our parents were meeting about business." Gai nodded solemnly, not as easily broken up about it as Itsuki. "Let's keep going, Brigit."

"I am so sorry, Sir, Miss." Itsuki nodded. "I know, just keep driving."

There were a few moments of silence before Izumi sighed, falling back against her seat. "Well, I've had enough sad crap for one day. Somebody start singing or something or I swear I'm going to explode."

Hikaru smiled. "I said, come on-" Ryoko interrupted, shaking her head. "No, not that one! I can never pronounce it correctly! This is the song that doesn't end-"

"You both can stop because we're here, you freaks," interrupted Gai, not wanting to listen to song wars between Hikaru and Ryoko. They slowly climbed out of the car, those who had not seen the house before standing around in awe. "Whoa, Gai, I had no freaking clue this is how big it was… This is like three times the size of Grandmother's house!" exclaimed Hikaru, slinging her duffel over her shoulder and getting a good grip on her purple folder.

"It could eat Okaasan's house alive, man… and I AM talking about Mrs. O'Shanty's monster, Hikaru," mentioned Izumi, grabbing one of her boxes out of the back. "I just wanna go in and get something to eat and unpack my crap."

"No, don't mention food!" whined Akito, helping Brigit take down the boxes from the top and arguing with her about it. "Yes, I will help you, and if I get my way- GAI-CHAN, get your ass over here, you tall person!"

"Please, Tenkawa-san, I'm perfectly capable…" Of course Gai showed up right then. "Brigit, please, go inside, order up a pizza or something, and get those people to congregate in the parlor or something? Me and 'Kito got it." Though, with one look at his older lover, Gai bit his lip, almost regretting his words. But Brigit had already begun to lead some of them into the house. He cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted, "Ryoko, come over here, please!"

~*~

Once they entered the main hall, Hikaru just would not shut up. She began dancing around the room and giggling. "Wow, this place is so freaking huge!" Itsuki rolled her eyes. "Brigit, I'll walk them around and show them their rooms. Three pizzas to be safe: supreme, pepperoni and sausage, and cheese. Some of these people eat like there's no such thing as fat." Brigit nodded and headed to a corridor beyond the double staircases that circled around a grand piano. "Wow!" shouted Hikaru. "You guys have an actual piano!"

Itsuki rolled her eyes. "Hikaru, we have three that size, and at least one that's smaller. If you don't mind, I'd like to show you where you guys will be sleeping, okay? Sheesh." She headed up the right staircase and stopped at the top for them to follow her.

"It's really odd how it's decorated, though. It's not all as elegant as one would expect for a mansion," commented Izumi, glancing at a rather abstract painting of a woman behind the piano that surprised Hikaru.

"Yeah, it looks like that's what it would be like on the outside, but Jiro's family never really liked that style, and went for something more eccentric. And this," Itsuki opened a door, "would be your room, Miss Hikaru."

The redhead flung her duffel onto one of the two single beds and glanced around. "Hey, this room is pretty cool! Stereo, bookshelves, two beds… Why are there two beds?" Itsuki shrugged. "I don't know. Does it matter?" Hikaru shook her head. "Nah, I suppose not. Where's the closest bathroom?"

"Why? You gotta go?"

"Nah, curiosity."

"Oh, crap. Can I go through that later? Because the nearest one that doesn't require you to go through another person's bedroom is right next to Izumi's, which is where we're going now." Itsuki led them out of Hikaru's room, around the stairwell, and down the hall. "This is Izumi's room," she explained, pointing out one door, "and that is the bathroom," she pointed to the other door.

Izumi stepped into her bedroom, unaware that her friends had followed her in to check it out. "Holy crap, this one's huge!" Itsuki nodded. "Yeah, this is the nicer normal bedroom. It has a mirrored room in your closet, your own bathroom, a little arcade thing… If it wasn't for the single bed and the spring room being right next door to my room, I'd have taken this one myself."

"Aer-dammit, Izumi! I'm freaking jealous!" Izumi smirked at her best friend. "You could always just visit me or something." Hikaru pouted. "Lucky whore."

Jun rolled his eyes. "Okay, I'm not jealous, because I get a whole section of the house to myself, right?" Itsuki nodded. "Leave your shit here, Izumi, or just stay here and start exploring if you don't want to come, because it's kind of a long walk." Izumi shrugged. "I'd rather get lost with a guide." Hikaru nodded in agreement. Itsuki shrugged. "Your loss. All right Junny, down the stairs, Mr. Jumpy, and we'll meet you there in a second." As it seems he would, the blue-haired man sprinted out of Izumi's room and headed for the stairs down the hall. Itsuki rolled her eyes.

They barely made it to the railing around the stairwell before the music mage heard her lover's voice. "Terra-dammit, Jun, get the hell out of the way! I swear I'll throw one of these boxes at you!" Hikaru giggled. "Sounds like they're done getting our crap off the truck. I vote for attempting to drag it up the stairs." Izumi nodded. "Yeah, I'll help. Have fun dragging around the excited Jun, Itsuki." The woman in question rolled her eyes again before they all paraded down the stairs, finding Jun sitting on a desk and Ryoko, Akito, and Gai looking somewhat tired.

"Come on, Jun. Hikaru and Izumi have volunteered to help drag stuff up the stairs. Brigit's already ordered food, so keep an ear out for the doorbell, would you, Jiro?" Itsuki grabbed Jun's arm and pulled him off the desk and down the corridor Brigit had gone earlier, which led straight into the kitchen.

"Wow, Akito probably won't wait to see this…" commented Jun appreciatively. It almost dwarfed the Nadesico kitchen by half a size. Itsuki nodded. "After all, that little boy hasn't realized that he's the resident cook now. Poor fool." A smile in Itsuki voice made Jun realize she was just being sarcastic. He pulled his arm out of her grasp as they entered another, more lively room. Jun glanced around the room at the even more unlike the house décor. "What the…"

"Don't ask. I've lived here on and off my whole life and the only explanation I ever received was 'Call it a ballroom and be done with it'." Itsuki led him out a door and into another, which opened up to a secluded room that seemed almost like a hotel lobby, as professional and sparsely decorated as it was. "Of course, if you want more stuff in here, I'm sure you can get it. We just have essentials, couches, TV, desk, computer, all that. But this is the 'guest house' which is pretty much is like your own little section that's connected to the house but requires you to go outside to go to the main parts of the house. The stairs lead up to your bedroom and a little balcony thingy." Jun nodded, walking over and glancing up the stairs before climbing them. He then put the stuff in his arms on the desk across from his bed. "It's a nice little room, secluded and all… but with my own little living room, I'm sure people will be all over this area now, won't they?" whined Jun down to Itsuki who was sitting on the couch downstairs.

"Of course they will. You weren't voted the most-likely-to-be-pounced and licked person on the ship for nothing, you know. Now if you only had a pussy instead of a dick, it would be great. Random sex all over the place. But you don't. Which is just too bad."

Jun had no chance to retort, as there was a faint ringing and a whole bunch of pounding feet and thuds of dropped boxes. Hikaru's shout of "Pizza's here!" explained it all, calling Jun back down the stairs.

"Oh hell, Itsuki. Is this a sign of things to come?"

"If it is, it will prove that environments may change, but people do not immediately."

Jun sighed. "I only hope this won't feel like a sleepover that lasts forever."

~*~

"Hello, I'm Anastasia Ball."

"And I'm Andy Suarez. In today's top story, everyone has already known of the seemingly old news that the Nergal Battleship ND-001 Nadesico has docked permanently in Yokosuka Bay in Japan. But one other thing happened the day the ship came home for good: a breakthrough in science that could severely effect the anti-Jumper movement. Cordell Strong has the story."

"Who are true humans and who are not? That has been the main source of discussion since the end of the Lizard War and the discovery of Ninlan and magic. Like a badly written movie, our world has had magic and technology coincide, but what about nature? Are those who cannot Boson Jump and use magic the next step, or a minority the people want to have nothing to do with? The debate has been hard and heated, but with the report of more lax Jumping requirements, who can tell who's a Jumper or who is not? Inez Fressange, a thirty-two-year-old Martian scientist is the only brain behind the new, more relaxed and encompassing forces at work.

"Miss Fressange, what exactly was found along with the Martian relic that allows for Boson Jumping?"

"Well, it wasn't exactly found… But it was the Key to the Computer, which unlocks the, as you called it, 'relic' and causes all those nanomachines in the bodies of humans that have not already done so, such as Martians, Jupiterians, and certain Ninlanders already have, to rewrite the DNA of the human they reside in so that they are capable of Jumping. In short, Aestivalis pilots and others who had nanomachines injected into their bodies before birth are now capable of Boson Jumping."

"And you say this key was inserted and this theory has now taken effect?"

"Yes, but it is not a theory, Mr. Strong. The Nadesico itself was Jumped by an Aestivalis pilot. Also, there was an incident where another Aestivalis pilot Jumped from one part of the ship to another."

"But who put in this key and unlocked the computer, Miss Fressange?"

"I don't think that's necessary for me to say, do you?"

"But the only question that seems unanswered is what this will do to those who were protesting the existence of Jumpers?"

"My husband was a Delphinium pilot, and we are both adamantly against those unnatural freaks. Now what am I supposed to do, knowing he's one of them? What is he supposed to do?"

"It appears that only time will tell. Cordell Strong for Channel 6, Insider's News."

~*~

Inez frowned at the TV her assistants kept in the laboratory. She hadn't thought that she was rambling, or being rude, but she also thought that the reporter was reaching and trying to peg the whole thing on her. The unlocked computer was like an unlocked door, letting everyone in. That was her whole purpose in unlocking it. By locking it, Empress Juveus of Mars, Inez's magic instructor, had kept the Jupiterians as far out of it as possible. Besides, only a Martian by blood could have inserted that key. She made it so everyone with nanomachines could have the ability to Jump. She expected people to be against them, but she didn't think that it would cause more damage.

As she fingered through her mail, she winced, feeling more damage to be reeked as she pulled a letter out, the addresses handwritten and addressed to her personally, not the laboratory. 'Well, hell. Of course this had to come today, when I'm exhausted and pissed off.' Inez would not even let herself think of the real reason why she was dreading reading the letter from Izumi. After all, with her back with the higher-grade of knowledge and technology that resided in seemingly only Nergal Heavy Industries and Nergal Heavy Industries alone-

'No, it's just stressing me out. That's all. I've gotten used to sitting around and not doing much of anything. Besides, Erina's guinea pigs are far too annoying and they fight to much.' Inez had thought the forbidden thought. The thought she was trying not to let come into her mind. "Damnez-le. I promised myself I wouldn't think of her, especially now. Now I'm just going to feel guilty…" Inez grumbled as she slid a faintly pink nail under the top of the envelope and tore the top, pulling the letter out and unfolding it.

"Dear Inez,

I figured since I haven't seen you lately I might as well write you. After all, I am bored and this may be a change from all the Nobel Prize ceremony invitations, ne? It's not as if you discovered radiation, but you did pretty much changed the world, didn't you? It's really odd when you think of it like that. I know you, which is more than half the world can say. Heh.

But other than being the biggest scientific celebrity since Einstein, how are you? Having fun helping Erina deal with Onikirimaru-san and Misumaru-san? It's really odd how I can't exactly call her Kanchou anymore, but she still feels like it. I suppose this is just residue from living on the Nadesico for so long. Eventually it will go away, right?

Things around here couldn't be more pumped. Yamada Manor is so much bigger than my mother's house. Granted, we were always poor, so of course it would be bigger, but this one looks like it could eat it for a midnight snack. Of course, we're screwing up our sleeping schedule to all hell. It is currently 4:26 in the morning and I'm not going to bed for like an hour or so. Nobody else is sleeping either. It isn't going to be pretty when we all go back to the working scene. But right now we're just hanging around and slacking off before we go back to being responsible adults. I think we've just had enough of work for a bit.

Oh, I have a question. There's a Chulip about a kilometer down the road that landed on Kazamo Manor. What does this mean for Yamada Manor in terms of Jump field? Gai and Itsuki both say it's been there since before Gai got assigned to the Nadesico, but I'm just curious of the range that a field can grow. Heh, the field on the range can grow. Anyway, they say you're welcome to come check or something, though I'm fairly sure you can check from where you are, can't you? Oh, and Gai wants to know that if his house is in the Jump field, does this mean people could rob the house? If you build it, they will come?

Well, other than all of the sappy crap I'm about to tell you, I suppose that's it. You aren't looking much for social details, so I'll leave it alone. Well, Inez, I'm starting to become lonesome and miss you. I'm not going to say drop by, though I wouldn't mind it, but write me back or give me a call or something. Don't be a stranger and don't you turn into a schizoid hermit like I know you just might do. I love you, Miss Household Name.

Love, Maki Izumi"

Inez folded the letter back up, pulled her glasses off her face, and rubbed her forehead. No, this is exactly what she didn't need at the moment. It was bad enough dealing with reporters, stupid assistants, and those damn guinea pigs that were the only other female Martians in existence. Now she had the difficult task of trying to decide whether or not to tell her lover she was in love with another woman.

Oh, it wasn't as simple as that. Inez wasn't even sure herself of what exactly was entailing of that statement, but it was literal. Inez had felt certain jealous spurts when Erina, as she always did, rubbed Kaguya in her face. And of course, Erina's blatant flirting with Yurika, who was dumber than bricks and didn't see it, certainly didn't help.

But it wasn't just that Inez was in love with Erina. Inez wondered if it was just all wishing for the good old days, before the Nadesico had flown between them and turned it all into a pissing contest. And another problem was, while she knew Erina didn't really feel for Kaguya and Yurika, Inez really did feel some kind of connection with Izumi. Which completely and totally complicated things beyond repair.

Inez sighed and replaced her glasses on her nose. She should have seen this coming. Prolonged exposure to Izumi made her weak, and a lack of exposure to Erina created a rift they both so wanted a bridge between, but each was too stubborn to deal with it. There was nothing Inez could do about was to play the cards handed to her and hope for the best. Meanwhile, a certain immediate supplier of jealous looks and sex had written to her and asked for the satisfaction of a reply, so it was best to respond promptly. Inez smiled. It was a shame to be near lying to Izumi, but what could she do? She had grown fond of the girl and was not about to let her go unless it was absolute that Erina would be there for her, instead of pretending as they had been for ages.

~*~

Itsuki's first sign that Ryoko had already gotten up was when she had awakened to an empty and cold bed. Her next sign was the messy and open armoire as she pulled her robe out before heading downstairs. The last signs were that coffee was already made and a dent had been made in it, and the paper was nowhere to be found. With a glance to find out whether or not the breakfast nook was empty, which it was, Itsuki poured herself a cup and headed toward the dining room, finally finding her lover showered and fully dressed, concentrating on the classifieds around her with a highlighter.

Itsuki sat at the other side of the corner of the table, making sure her cup wasn't in range of the paper that were splayed on the table. "Looking for a job already, Ryoko? Really, I didn't think you were bored already."

Ryoko jerked out of her trance and gripped her chest. "Terra-dammit, Itsuki, make a noise or something before you scare the living hell out of me. Shit!" Ryoko took a deep breath before capping her highlighter. She ran a hand through her now chin-length hair. "Dammit, I'm going to need a haircut anyway… Well, it's not so much that I'm bored… Izumi's been breaking out the ukulele and guitar out lately and doing her beatnik impressions, which, as you should know, means that she's job searching herself in coffee shops and all. Hikaru's been staying up late into the night in the study growling and moaning, not to mention filling up the wastebasket and banging her head against the wall. That means she's picked up her manga and is trying to be creative but has a block. Now, Hikaru at least I know is lazy. Izumi is sometimes lazy, but not as much as Hikaru. If Hikaru's beating me to getting back on her feet, well, let me tell you, that's an insult." Ryoko stopped and sighed, glancing once again over the classifieds. "Problem is, I have NO skills whatsoever, so I don't know what I'm supposed to do or pick or whatever…"

Itsuki narrowed her eyes. "But you've got fighting skills and you're a great pilot, not to mention-"

"Hah! Did you know that piloting instructors are only on the colonies now? Because on Earth, they're just weapons, but on the colonies, they're tools. And people are pissed at pilots now because of the fact that they're Jumpers. Besides, with the war over, people aren't exactly falling all over themselves to learn how to pilot an Aesti anyway."

Itsuki smiled. "But the market is still big… but perhaps because L2 is in the works. In any case, you interrupted. You're also a good pianist."

"Can't. I suck, I can't write music, and the industry is already full with music mages. Besides, I want to do something I love, and for some reason that seems to be fighting."

"Hmm. Maybe martial arts?" Ryoko shook her head. "Like I said, people are paranoid of Jumpers now, which kind of includes me, you know. I think I just need a no-thought job where it doesn't matter what 'race' I am."

Itsuki rubbed her chin, thinking. "Well, Akito is going to eventually go work for Miss How Mei in Tokyo. I'm sure Izumi may play at that coffee house connected to it that her husband owns, so maybe you could be a waitress? Just a suggestion, of course."

Ryoko sighed. "I was thinking about it. After all, until this political crap gets settled out, we're most likely best off with people that know us anyway. But I just want to know that there will be something for me later, that I won't be doomed to be a dumb waitress for the rest of my life."

Itsuki bit her lip, then looked around the room and out the door. Sitting back down, she lowered her voice to a whisper. "Okay, here's something you can't tell anybody. You know how Mugendai is the leader in Aestis and missiles? Well, me and Jiro are not only running it, but we help with the brainpower. We've been going over ideas for a new frame of Aesti, but we need some diehards to be willing to try them out. I was going to run this idea by you later, because we haven't even started the technicalities of it yet, but I want you to be one of the testers. I know that if you think it's good, it really is good, and I know you know what to look for, rather than some Delphinium-piloting losers from the space stations." Ryoko laughed at the mention of some of the UEAF, then nodded, her spirits genuinely lifted by this information. "Wow, so there is some kind of thing going for gurus like me?"

"Yeah, but keep it quiet! I don't want any of the other guys to know, and I promised Jiro I wouldn't tell you. Now shut up, because I think I hear Akito tinkering and grumbling in the kitchen."

Since the kitchen was almost on the other side of the house, Ryoko rolled her eyes. "Paranoid much?"

"Much. Now how about that generic sports team?"

~*~

Mari had forgotten how much more demanding voice acting after a long break could be than usual. Rolling her head on her shoulders as she walked in the door to her apartment, she knit her eyebrows and set her keys down on the table as she felt a headache threatening to rage. She grumbled, taking off her shoes, and headed straight for the kitchen, grabbing a soda and some painkillers. "Sara, where are you?" she called to her cat. Hearing a jingle in her bedroom, she nodded, popping the medicine and chugging the caffeine-riddled drink, hoping it would give her some kind of buzz. She glanced at her phone to discover the answering machine was beeping. Pushing the button, she sat down on the couch and thumbed through the television listings, wondering if there was anything good on tonight.

"Hey, Mari-chan, what's up? Heard you're trying to take back your position as Laichi. Go you, don't forget the magical girl skills you learned there, ne? Well, I'm kind of dry on insults lately, since I've been all kinds of antisocial, so I'm calling to fix that. How about dinner tonight, my treat? Celebration for trying to get your role back? Reminiscing time? Whatever you wanna call it, I'll be over to pick you up at eight. Toodles!"

Mari rubbed her temples and glanced at the clock. "Dammit. Saburota's gonna be here in-" Suddenly, the doorbell rang. She got up reluctantly and opened the door. Low and behold, there stood Saburota in some of his typical tacky clothing. "No," said she before attempting to close the door in his face. However, he was fast enough to stick a foot in the door.

"Aw, come on, Mari-chan, give me a break! You didn't call me to tell me to go the hell away because you wanted to do it in person?"

"No, I didn't call you because I just got home, you weasel!" She gave up and let him open the door. She didn't move, however, except to cross her arms and tap her toe. "Well, what do you want, sleaze bag?"

"Isn't it obvious? I want a good reason to go eat fancy food and get asked for autographs." Mari rolled her eyes. "Couldn't get Subaru-san to come, could you?" Saburota narrowed his eyes at her. "For your information she's not returning my calls. How did you know that?"

"What's to know, you're an asswipe. No wonder she isn't returning your calls." She sighed. She really wanted a bubble bath and some bad sitcoms, but maybe after reading and doing nothing but pretending she was someone else, a good insult contest was what she needed. "Fine. I'll go. But give me a half-an-hour to shower and make myself look steal-able, okay?"

Saburota shrugged as she let him into her apartment. He sat down on her couch and was immediately pounced by her cat. "No problem for me." He rubbed the cat's fur and ears as Itsuki grabbed her things out of her bedroom and went into the bathroom.

Thirty-seven minutes, a bathroom in disaster, and an infomercial about cooking devices later, Mari emerged from the bathroom in a simple, yet long khaki skirt, a slightly mesh-like top over a tan t-shirt to go with it. Of course, with her still attaching her jewelry, giving herself a rushed look. She stopped at the end table next to where Saburota was sitting to dig through her purse. "I still need to put on my shoes and find my lipstick, but other than that we can leave."

Saburota raised his dark eyebrows at his former fellow crewmember. "Wow, Mari, you clean up nice."

"Yeah, yeah, fuck off," she brushed him off as she pulled out her light pink lipstick, heading back into the bathroom to apply it quickly. Saburota chuckled. "Still as lady-like as always." Mari went back into her bedroom and snatched up her light brown high heels, slipping them on her feet as she hobbled out of the room, also grabbing her brown coat. "Say what you will, but I'm hoping to get something out of this more than a meal-"

Saburota stood, lifting his hands in defense. "Hey now, Mari, I never said I was doing anything else but taking you out for food."

Mari rolled her eyes. "That's not what I meant and you know it. I want looks, and not from you, from other kind patrons who all wished they had a beautiful woman like me out on a date instead of with a loser like you."

Saburota chuckled again, holding the door open for Mari. "Maybe you should work a little on that arrogance. It just doesn't seem to suit you."

A smirk met his laugh. "And you should practice what you preach."

~*~

The beginning of the first week Yukina went back to school was pure hell for the Jovian girl. She at least got a week to settle into mundane Earth life before Minato insisted that she get back to learning what she needed to know, because she couldn't have learned it all on the ship. But as she was starting midyear for her first year of high school, she felt totally lost in some subjects, such as Algebra, but way ahead of everyone else in others, such as Gym. The only two classes she liked a lot, in fact, were Gym and Choir. She was doing okay in Japanese and English, but her math and science just weren't as high as she liked. It didn't help that the teachers insisted that she was not doing her level of work, as she was a Jovian, and everyone knew that Jupiterians had a higher level of education. It never seemed to get through their thick skulls that Yukina had been a rebel and frankly didn't care much for school.

Minato understood this and just asked her do to her best. It was she that suggested she take Choir, as Yukina had proven that she had some sort of voice when she was Assistance Communications Officer. Minato had the trouble of trying to struggle with phone calls from school and getting a job, something that made Yukina feel bad, but it's not as if she could do anything about her attitude about school. She had run it into her skin and it was going to stay.

But it didn't help that Yukina was Jupiterian and a Jumper. With only their parents' feelings about Jumpers to back themselves up on, Yukina was ridiculed to the point where she had decided to wear simple gloves, all in three days. They at least hid her silver nanocontroller from sight from those that did not already know.

And for the past two days, she complained to Minato about how cruel the other students were being the second she got home. But today she came home to an empty house and a note from Minato mentioning that she had to go out for an interview, and that she'd be back with dinner. With nothing but a large stack of homework to do, she picked the mail out of the mailbox, hoping that there would be a letter from someone.

And there it was, a simple envelope that had been sealed with wax, like in old time. Without even looking at the name on the front she made the connection that it was either Ruri for Minato or Ariko for her. Opening it, she was delighted to find that it was Ariko, for her.

"Dear Shiratori Yukina,

Sorry for taking so long to write, but I figured I'd wait for something exciting to talk about to come up before I wrote you. But it never happened, so I'll just have to tell you about all the boring stuff.

First of all, how are you? Now don't lie. One of my incentives to write right now was a letter from Haruka-san saying that you needed to know that you still have friends in the world. Well, it said other things too, but you already know about them. After all, it was about you and stuff there, and you're there, ne?

Well, I suppose I should get down to telling you what's been going on. Once we got back, it was the whole welcoming thing from my little brothers, Otousama, and Okaasama. They were a little surprised to see Omoikane with us, but I suppose they got used to him fast, as my little brothers (all save for Rachiku, of course) grew fond of him quickly. Also, I suppose that the fact that he is Oneesama's best friend and that he pretty much belongs to her added to it. But it was soon back to business as usual and we got sent back to tutoring. Now, all I have to complain about that is that our tutor is not one for other people's thoughts. He seemed to think it was horrible that Oneesama and I had experienced some of the world first-hand, and thought that we were spoiled forever. Not to mention all the back homework I missed and I'm trying to catch up on. But anyway, back on Mr. David. He really truly thought we were messed up because we hadn't been treated like fine china all this time! Can you believe that? It angers me to know end! I loved the time I was on the ship, and I learned a lot in general, but the fact that I wasn't treated like some lazy, inbred cat makes that experience bad? It's so dumb.

But the tutoring thing hasn't been bugging me as much as it has Oneesama, poor her. Mr. David and Okaasama both seem to think that she needs to go back to learning stuff. Not that anyone learns everything, but Oneesama's only a little bit older than you, and Miss Fressange said it may be entirely possible for her to get into college already, and a good one at that. After all (I'm not bragging, I'm just stating the obvious), she's a genius and she finished a third year level of college education when she was around six or seven, because of all the schooling she had since she was a baby. But now she's back to dumb things like typing, geometry, and standard biology, all that, because they don't think she's smart enough. Sometimes I wonder why Okaasama has so much power over our lives, and why Otousama never steps in. At least he listens to reason.

But things around here have been slow. The little brothers are being annoying as usual, Oneesama is frustrated and angry, Omoikane is trying to calm her down and figure out our entire family tree (task and a half, I'm telling you.), Otousama is being pressured to state his opinion on Jumpers (he thinks the whole debate is dumb, especially since Oneesama is a Jumper.), and Okaasama is planning that Celebratory Ball…

Oh, that's what I wanted to tell you! The ball is supposed to be in celebration of the landing of the Nadesico and the end of the war. Omoikane already gave a list to Okaasama of all who needs to come and their addresses, but of course Okaasama is inviting more… You may be getting your invitation in a few weeks or so, but I just have to tell you about it now! I'm so excited at seeing everyone again, especially since I wish I could see your faces… I mean, yeah, I have pictures, but what are those in comparison to everyone? Oh, I sure hope you can come! It'll be so much fun! When you get it, make sure you guilt-trip Minato into going, though she might be just as excited as me.

Well, that's all I have to say other than I hope the problem with those other kids fixes itself and I can't wait for you to write me back. And you better do it or I'll cry, you know I will!

Your Friend, Prince Notsumote Ariko of Peaceland."

When she folded up the three pieces of paper back up, Yukina noticed that she was grinning. Other than Minato, Ariko was her favorite person on the ship. The letter from him reminded her of exactly how much she wished they were still lost in space or something, but also of how much she had grown attached to the people that were around her. She opened the letter again and reread the last line. Her homework could wait. She needed to write back to Ariko while she was still feeling this good.

~*~

With no Gardenia and school and training to fill his life up again, Hari found himself often in Nergal Headquarters, learning to be up to par in the computer-operating field with Ruri and Lapis. School was nothing to him in comparison to the training, and found himself to be here more often than school, making him wonder if that sort of education had anything more to teach him. He knew it had nothing more to teach Lapis, as she was always wandering the halls of Nergal, often trying to find something to do. Sometimes she would come to watch Hari during his extended lessons, giving the instructor a word or two of advice before once again leaving the room. She seemed to Lapis like a small ghost that haunted the already haunting building of his employment.

But every time Hari saw Lapis, it sparked something in his head that he didn't expect. He wasn't reminded of being her partner, or even of the Gardenia at all. She reminded him of the girl he only met once yet unconsciously was striving to be: Princess Notsumote Hoshino Ruri of Peaceland.

It had almost become a slow obsession for him. She enchanted him when he met her, and her confidence nearly radiated from her, so much that Hari almost wanted to be like her, rather than even talk to her. It rather scared him, actually.

Hari was so lost in his thoughts about the first Electronic Fairy that he nearly leaped five feet in the air when a hand grabbed his shoulder. Panting he turned to the perpetrator. "Takasugi-san, you shouldn't sneak up on people like that. It seems stalker-like."

"I called to you, you nerd. Lost in your thoughts and daydreaming, were ya? Thinking about a certain blue stone by the name of Lapis Lazuli, eh?" Hari shook his head at the poor description of the girl Lapis. "No, I wasn't thinking about her…"

"Oh, you like them older, don't ya? It was Ruri, wasn't it? Eh? Am I on the money?" Hari began to blush and shake his head. Saburota laughed. "You are so easily flustered, Hari! I was just joking. But now, if you really were interested-"

"What are you doing here, Takasugi-san? I thought you were in Tokyo?"

"Yeah, I was. But I decided to come and visit my other favorite crewmembers; besides, I thought it was a good idea to get out of there for a while. Mari's pissed at me." Hari rolled his eyes. "What did you do this time?"

"Oh, you know, the usual transgression of existing. I took her out for dinner and did my usual flirting with the waitress to get out of having to tip her and Mari stomped right out of the restaurant. I swear, Mari's such a prude. Anyway, I came to tell Erina adios."

"Wait, what did you say? You're quitting? Now?"

"Yep. I've had my fill of Nergal shenanigans. If they hire nutcases like Mari, I NEED to get out. That and I'd like to tell our former captain and Misumaru-san hello before I let myself be sacked willingly. Not that I'm being fired, mind you."

"But… Takasugi-san, with the prejudices against Jumpers, won't you be having problems to get a replacement job?"

"Hey, let me worry about that, okay? Jeez, worry so much about people at your age, Hari, and you'll sprout gray hairs. So what have you been up to?"

"Finishing up my operator training. Not doing much else."

"Terra, you're boring. Anyway, I have to go tell Erina to shove it, so I'll see you later, Hari." With that, Hari's conversation with Saburota was done and the Jovian was walking as cocky as he did down the hall. Hari screwed up his face and bit his lip, angry. How dare he get involved and try to set Hari up with Lapis. They were children for the Gods' sake. Besides, he wasn't interested in neither Lapis nor Ruri.

Really, he wasn't.

~*~

TBC…

~*~

A/N: Wow, that… sucked… as per usual. Oh well… I said it is just touching base, didn't I? Well, the next couple chapters (one or two, because I want to get going) will be like this, just hopefully more organized… Well, next time, we get to see the first signs of people actually working (amazing), letters from across the solar system (difficult), and hopefully we'll get to finally see some things that are going on in Peaceland, instead of just Ariko's letter to Yukina. Well, until then, ciao! 


	7. The base has been groped

A/N: It's really nice to know that, even with our common setting gone, you people still think I'm doing all right and playing with the characters in interesting ways. ^^ Well, the one question that didn't come up, that I didn't explain before was why the news anchors had English or even American names. Well, I just consider it to be a worldly news-station, kinda like CNN, only more… competitive, such as local channels. Anyway, recap. People have had about a week and a half apart from each other. We finally got to see a bit of Yamada Manor, but not so much of the goings-on there. (trying not to focus on pilots so much) Inez started doubting her relationship with Izumi and wondering about Erina. Ryoko started worrying about her talents again. Saburota made himself a general pain, Yukina got first contact with Ariko, and Hari doesn't know what's going on with him about Lapis and Ruri. I suppose that's a rather brief, yet detailed recap, ne? Well, this time, more people get into jobs, more people get into contact with others, and other things happen to some others. Basically, another one of last time, only more other stuff. Well, let's get a going now!

~*~

When Akito headed down to the kitchen to start breakfast, he had no idea that anyone would be up. Least of all, Hikaru still dressed in her white blouse and blue jumper from the day before, grabbing a banana out of the refrigerator. Peeling it, she smiled at Akito. "Hey, s'up? Gonna start breakfast already? Dude, it's like five in the morning!" Akito rolled his eyes. "I gotta cook all you people's assortment of food early today. I gotta be in Tokyo between seven and eight. And I know you haven't even gone to bed yet, have you Hikaru?"

The redhead shrugged and hopped onto one of the forest green counters. "Petty details. I'm a night owl. I'm cranky in the morning if it isn't directly connected to the night. So what're going to Tokyo for?"

"Going to go finally take up my job at Peaceful Days."

"Peaceful Days? Is that the name of Miss How Mei's restaurant?"

"Restaurant jointed with a coffee shop, actually. She and her husband run it, and I promised that I'd help out. I'm gonna get money of course…" Just at that moment, Gai entered the kitchen in his robe looking positively dead-tired. "The hell are YOU doing out of bed, Gai-chan? Hikaru being still awake at least makes sense."

Gai yawned and scratched the back of his head, ruffling his shaggy, shoulder-length hair. "Yeah, well, me and Itsuki set today for the interviews for the new secretaries. Our old ones got sick of our crap, so we set it up so people could apply for the job and all. Itsuki insisted we interview them personally, since we need people that can take a lot of annoyances. Besides, we need to get used to going into the office to do stuff, instead of hanging around here."

"So why the hell isn't Itsuki up?"

"She is. She's the one that woke me up. I'm getting some coffee before I go take a shower."

For the next hour or so, Akito continued to cook what would be considered an elaborate breakfast if the house didn't have seven people living in it, as Gai begged Hikaru to give him something, anything to read, as he would be bored stiff. When he interjected to tell Gai that he would be in Tokyo for the rest of the day, Gai nodded, scratching his chin. "I'll try to convince Itsuki to stop by for lunch or something. But now I must be off to make myself into a cleaner state," he said, glancing at his empty white mug. "Later 'Kito, Hikaru."

When his lover had left the room, Akito let out a sigh. "Maybe I was expecting too much out of him?"

Hikaru slapped herself in the forehead. "Dear Aer, give me the strength to not throttle this boy. Akito, he got up at five! He doesn't normally get up until nine at the earliest! And he has to do it to listen to idiots tell him and Itsuki why they would be good go-fors and not be weirded out by things stranger since the origin of the Jupiterians was public! What were you expecting, Jumping Jack Mack?"

"I don't know… maybe I'm just expecting more than this mundane life we've started to get used to since we left the ship." Hikaru sighed. "Akito, you're just hopeless. You'd think that, with all we've been through, we'd love mundane living, not wish for more explosions, shooting, and all that crap…"

Akito shrugged. "Well, I'm gonna go grab my coat and go. See ya."

"See you later, oh one of indecision."

~*~

Minato stepped into Miss How Mei's restaurant, she had no idea she'd see more than one familiar face. She had been a common patron over the last week or so, but she didn't think that he worked there. "Akito! What're you doing here?"

"Oh, I see, my presence has been noted, but in shock and a demanding to know why I am existing in this space. Miss How Mei, are you sure I can't throw customers out the window?"

Minato laughed, shaking her head as she headed for the counter. "Tell Hokashiro-san that it's me and I want the usual. He'll understand. So, really, I've been coming here almost everyday, and you haven't been here."

"Yeah, because I just now got off my lazy ass and decided to help Miss How Mei. Oi! Hokashiro-san!" he called to the back, "Minato wants her usual!"

"You got it!" Akito turned back to the former helmswoman and propped his chin up with his hand. "So how's a Nadesico-free life treating you?"

"Not so good, I'm afraid. Oh, thanks, Hokashiro-san. 250?"

"250. Akito, take her money, would ya?" At the Martian's nod, Gareiru seemed to disappear into the kitchen. How Mei came out seconds later to speak with Minato. "You ever get that thing with Yukina fixed?"

Minato sighed. "No. Apparently the school's head thinks that there shouldn't be Jumpers at his school anyway. I'm considering just pulling her out of that and finding some academy to apply for."

"Whoa, what thing with Yukina?" asked Akito, confused. Minato pushed a piece of brown hair out of her face. "Yukina's being ridiculed and prejudged by students and teachers at the school because of her heritage and her abilities."

"You serious? I thought people wouldn't care all THAT much…" Minato nodded. "Luckily I may get this job today, so I can at least have more standing if I try to yank Yukina out of that school. Public high school was not nearly that bad when I went."

How Mei nodded in understanding. "So that's why you're all dressed up today, is it?" Minato nodded, blushing and picking invisible pieces of hair or lint off her purple dress. "I'm just hoping I get the job, all my other interviews thus far have been shot down."

"Shot down?" asked Akito. "Why?"

Minato shrugged. "They always came up with something. 'Your references to both Asuka and Nergal are suspicious.' 'We can't have a Jumper enthusiast in our company.' 'I don't think that an entry for former employment as Nadesico helmswoman counts unless you were in the army, and that ship wasn't.' Stupid stuff like that. I only hope that this company won't care." Minato glanced at her watch. "Oh, I better get going. Bye, Miss How Mei, Akito, Hokashiro-san!" She grabbed her paper cup and purse and walked out the door.

~*~

Minato was immediately worried when she entered the waiting room for the interviews. There were lots of people there; many dressed better than she and possibly waiting for hours. She just reported that she had arrived and picked a seat, letting the gossip of the other applicants flow over her ears. Rumors that she was Nadesico crew, a Jumper's mother, and a part-time stripper amused her greatly. But when the room started emptying and people left the room where the interviewer was with smiles, her worry began to grow again. Would she be turned away because of her previous job, or that she was the legal guardian of a Jumper?

Finally, her name was called, and she, shaking, stood and brushed off her dress before entering the interviewing room. And was hit with complete and total shock. "Kazamo-san? Yamada-san? You're the interviewers?"

Itsuki's face lit up and she stood up grinning. "Minato! Oh, if I had only known you applied I wouldn't have to those people we might call them back! Jiro, stick your head out the door and tell everyone to go home."

"Gladly." So Gai stood up from his near-sleeping position and opened the door a bit. "Um, I'm sorry to have wasted your time, but Itsuki and I have found who we needed." Groans radiated from the previous room until Gai closed the door. "So what's the deal, we both get her or something?"

"Whoa, did I just get the job because I'm me? Don't you have to ask me questions and such though? How do you know I'm the perfect person for, well, BOTH jobs?"

Gai rolled his eyes and leaned against a wall. "Well, it's obvious, isn't it? Not only do we already know what kind of person you are and that we already know we won't get any of that 'We won't work under Jumpers, we just can't' attitude from you-"

"Believe me," interrupted Itsuki, "we had to turn away like half the people in there because of that."

"But we also know you're the best of the best. Why else were you hired for the Nadesico?" finished Gai, glaring at Itsuki for interrupting him. She stuck her tongue out at him. "So, Minato, you think you can handle being our secretary?"

Minato laughed. "Oh, if you were anyone else I'd wonder. But sure. When do I start?"

"Immediately, if you want. We have a task that could wait, but it's better the earlier," answered Itsuki rubbing her chin.

Minato nodded. "Okay, do I have to run home and get anything, or can I just go in now?" Gai shook his head. "Nah, you can just go in now. We need you to get Uribatake on the line. We want his advice on something."

Minato scoffed. "Why is this seeming to be just one big Nadesico reunion today?"

Itsuki laughed. "We get the same thought everyday at dinner at home. Trust me, a reunion isn't what we're aiming for, but if it happens, what are we to do to complain?"

~*~

But Gai and Itsuki weren't the only ones who wanted contact with Uribatake. Though her intentions were completely different, after getting up and officially being awake in the late afternoon that day, she had set her manga materials aside so she could do the one thing she wanted to do more: write an email to her best male friend.

Opening up the program, she tried to think of things she wanted to tell him. She wanted to tell him about how far she was getting with her idea, all the fun they had been having lately, but she also wanted to say some random things about their current events, ask him how the divorce was going-

And that was the kicker. How was she supposed to ask how it was going without sounding like she wanted it to happen? It's not as if she did, it's just that she knew that Uribatake wanted away from his wife. Of course she'd want to happen what he wanted to happen, right? But did she want to support the breaking of a marriage? What kind of a person was she becoming?

She shook her head, sweeping those bad thoughts away. 'I'll just start the email and if it comes up I'll just tell him I'm all for whatever he wants.' And so, she began to type.

"Hey Uri-P! Just touching base with you, and I don't remember if you got my email address, so here it is! So how have things been over there? Things here have been absolutely NUTS! I swear. Do you remember how wild and crazy we all could be? Dude, I'm asking as if it was fifteen years ago and we're both old fogeys in little rocking chairs, instead of just you! Just kidding. Anyway, yes, the wild and craziness. Well, that's like everyday. Dear Aer, it's a wonder Junny hasn't gone completely bonkers with trying to calm us down and dealing with us continuously questioning him. But he's bi, I know it! I have gaydar, dammit!

But things around here have started to become the usual mundane crap that we used to have before the Nadesico. Gai, Itsuki, and Akito have gone back to work. Izumi's coming up with new abstract poetry stuff. And I'm getting pretty far in figuring out my manga! Of course, I don't have an entire submission yet, but I know what I'm doing story-wise, and that's what's really important. Writing really is hard, and I don't care who says it isn't. Junny's been helping me when I need it though, since he's the resident actual writer and all.

But enough about that, let's talk about some random deep stuff now, ne? I'm starting to wonder about my future as a mangaka with this whole anti-Jumper attitude everyone seems to have. What if I get rejected just because of my nanomachines? That's horrible! I don't even know what I'll do if that happens. I mean, people on the colony used to hate me because I was a connection between two communities that hated each other. But I can't help that I'm Japanese-Irish. I really can't. But I chose to become a pilot. I didn't choose to be a Jumper or even a mage, but that's just added stuff. Oh well. But how can people want to automatically hate me because of a choice I made? It's not like I'm a teen pregnancy, a gang member, or even a drug dealer or anything like that. I help defend their asses during the war, dammit! What the hell is there problem? Aer!

But as I asked, how are things over there? I know you're probably going to get divorced from your wife right? Aer, I don't even know her name! What is her name? What's your son's name? I don't know so much about you all of a sudden! This is so sad! Well, I'd like to say, as a close friend, that I'm behind whatever you want out of this, whether you miss her or if you really do want out.

Well, dear Aer, I've written a lot and most of it is rambling. Aer. Well, I suppose I'll stop babbling like the idiot I am gonna let you go. But don't forget to write me back, you geek! Love, Amano Hikaru"

Hikaru bit her lip, but nodded, pushed send, and leaned back. It was just as if she was talking to him, after all, and hopefully he'd understand that she really does just want what he wants, and is not pressuring him or trying to cause awkward silence.

~*~

For what seemed like the millionth time that night, Saburota asked himself how he had gotten himself into this situation. And the night had barely started. 'How? How on Earth, Mars, and Jupiter did I get myself roped into going out to dinner with Akiyama-san, Misumaru-san, and the former captain of the Nadesico?'

The scenes flashed through his mind, mocking him as they reminded him exactly how and why he accepted Admiral Akiyama Genpachiro's offer to go have dinner and reminisce with one of his friends and his daughter. He never made the connection that Genpachiro was now friends with Admiral Misumaru Kouichiro and that his daughter was Yurika.

Genpachiro began twirling his glass of wine in his hand. "It's just too bad that Munetake couldn't join us, ne, Misumaru?" Yurika's blue-violet eyebrows shot up. "Munetake?" Koichiro nodded. "Not the one you're thinking of, Yurika dear, his father. Isn't Sadaaki dead?" Yurika nodded, glancing down at her plate of spaghetti that was just placed in front of her. Saburota gladly thanked the waiter for his lasagna and began eating immediately. Genpachiro elbowed Saburota's ribs. "You've tied yourself down, haven't you?"

"Huh?"

"Don't give me 'huh'. Ever since the end of the war you've been one of the largest girl-chasers I know, and you have a beautiful one sitting in front of you, and you haven't said a word!" Kouichiro cleared his throat, signaling to his friend that he was perfectly capable of hearing. Genpachiro lowered his voice. "So obviously you've become tied down, haven't you?"

"No, I haven't, sir, and why are you digging into my personal business?" Genpachiro didn't get to answer, as Yurika stopped eating to ask Saburota a question. "So tell me, Takasugi-san, why he that called me a man thinks I'm a beautiful young girl?" Genpachiro's jaw dropped. "M-M-Misumaru, you didn't tell me your daughter was the captain of the Nadesico!"

"I knew," answered Saburota, and he could feel the rift form immediately between him and Yurika. This was why he wasn't trying to come on to her. That one battle as the Gardenia was escorting the Nadesico had made deep cuts between the crew of the Gardenia and the Nadesico. But Saburota still called Ryoko because he believed Ryoko understood what he had to do as a soldier and a crewmember. Yurika wouldn't understand, especially since she was the one that had inspired feelings of kindness toward humanity in her crew.

Genpachiro raised his eyebrows to her former Executive Officer. "How did you know? Is it a Nergal thing?" Yurika shook her head. "No, the Gardenia escorted us back to Earth from L2."

Kouichiro began to play with his moustache. "Isn't L2 being rebuilt?" Genpachiro nodded. "It's said to be done within the next year or so." Yurika nodded, agreeing, but looked right at Saburota as she said, "If they can get all the debris from the area out of the way so it doesn't damage it on the way up."

Yes, this was the million-and-first time Saburota asked himself why he came to dinner with Genpachiro, Kouichiro, and his daughter Yurika.

~*~

Ariko was glaring at his history textbook when Omoikane knocked on the door and entered. "Ariko, mail for you!"

"Who's it from, Omoikane?"

"Yukina!" Ariko threw his book to the floor and raced to the door, nearly snatching his letter from Yukina out of his sister's robot's hands. "Thanks, Omoikane. Okaasama and Otousama didn't see it, did they?"

"Nope! But Alfred asked what it was, so I just told him that you got a letter from a friend and he said it was okay-"

"No, Omoikane! You idiot! He's gonna tell Okaasama and Otousama that I'm in correspondence with a girl older than me! I'm going to have your head if I get in trouble, Omoikane!" Omoikane took this moment to leave the room as quickly as possible. It was always a game between the normally timid Ariko and the oblivious Omoikane. Ariko needed to get Omoikane out of his room and to get him to still do things for him, and this was the best way. Closing his door, he plopped onto his bed and opened the letter.

"Dear Ariko,

Well, it's about time you wrote to me! I was starting to wonder if you'd forgotten that I exist all the way on the other side of Earth. Hee hee. But I should have written to you too, but I've just been busy doing back work for school, so I hadn't had the chance. I'm procrastinating on my homework this minute, too. But don't tell Minato if you write her, okay?

Oh, so you heard about the great 'Jumper going to Itachi High' incidents from my dear sister-in-law, have you? Well, I guess that there isn't much to say there. Kids are being taught by their parents that I'm a demon and unnatural and all that (as if I ASKED to be born Jupiterian) deciding that my life isn't hell enough with me being behind in school and have commenced in making it even worse. It's gotten so bad that I've started wearing little gloves to school so that more people don't find out that I'm the only non-Earthling at the school. And I'm serious; I really am the only non-Earthling at that school. But some of the teachers suck and say I have to take them off in their classroom, which really doesn't help the situation any. Minato says she might pull me out of that school and try to get me into an academy, which will most likely suck because I'm in typical classes now, and I'm still trying really really hard to catch up.

But other things going on here… Minato finally got another secretarial job! And you'll never guess who it's for. Kazamo Itsuki and Yamada Jiro! Those two pilots on the Nadesico! Makes me wonder how small this world really is. But it's great because she's been bouncing around everywhere in search of a job. As if we need the money or something, which we don't.

Oh, poor Ruri! I've never been close to her, but I wouldn't wish that on anybody! You better spend lots of time with her and get her to write to people so she doesn't feel so alone. We don't need her going postal and running away or blowing something up or worse, you know? Remind her that at least somebody remembers that's she's a genius.

Wow, that ball thing sounds really really fun… Magus, Ariko, now I'm extremely excited about it! A few weeks till we get the invitation! I'M GONNA DIE! I just can't wait to go and see EVERYBODY again, instead of just Tenkawa-san and Miss How Mei and Minato.

Well, now I'm reminding you that it's now your turn to write back, and you better!

Your Friend, Yukina"

In folding the letter back up, Ariko began to wonder at exactly why people were so against Jumpers. Sure, they could pretty much time travel, but only under certain conditions, and sure they could use magic, but many people's magic was not as great as others, like Yukina with her low level Copy magic. Even Ruri was a bigger threat that Yukina, but it's not as if she'd really do anything in her right mind. Ariko decided that the whole debate was stupid as he put the letter in his drawer so he could read it again.

~*~

But what Ariko didn't remember at that moment was the Ruri was NOT in her right mind. In fact, she was going absolutely crazy. Once Omoikane was ejected from Ariko's room, he rushed to Ruri's, who promptly reminded him that Ariko was just trying to get him out of his room. "However, Omoikane, I have something that we can do right now, if you don't mind letting me into your mind."

Omoikane never minded going under the control of Ruri, so he nodded furiously. "What is it, Ruri-sama? Are you going to look something up? Or maybe you're going to see if I can figure out what the Nadesico people are doing?"

Ruri smiled slightly, almost a little scarily. "Something like that Omoikane. If you would lie down on my bed, please." Omoikane complied immediately, and Ruri pulled her wooden desk chair over to the side of the bed. As she slowly placed her hands on Omoikane's head and chest, the robot's eyes slid closed and the user's went out of focus.

Sinking into the library that was Omoikane's consciousness had become as easy as breathing for the girl, and she knew exactly where she wanted to go. "Omoikane, I want access to Nergal's network in Hiratsuka, Japan."

"But, Ruri-sama, isn't that-"

"Just do it." Omoikane dejectedly connected her up until it asked for a password. "Would you like me to hack it, Ruri-sama?"

"Absolutely. Scramble our presence, if you will." Omoikane suddenly was worried. What if they got caught?

"We won't. Scramble our connection so they can't read it and go. Go as far as you can before you hit a block." Ruri and Omoikane rode along the wires and machines in the building on the other side of the planet until they both hit something that felt like a brick wall.

"Blocked, Ruri-sama. Are we stopping now?" Before Ruri could answer, both robot and user heard another voice. A light, monotonous ring that Ruri had committed to memory not too long ago. "I'd think it's a good choice if you do, Sarutahiko Omoikane, Your Highness."

"Lapis," growled the Princess of Peaceland. She let her fury at being stopped be very apparent to the girl that was created to be like her. But Lapis hadn't flinched. Ruri sighed. "Okay. Omoikane, let's go home."

Once they had pulled out of the trance, Omoikane sat up on Ruri's bed as Ruri pulled her hands back from his body. "Why did you have us do that, Ruri-sama?"

Ruri took a deep, ragged breath, feeling more tired than she ever had after hacking anything. "I just wanted to know I could still do it. But… SHE stopped me. She stopped me, Omoikane, and she could." Ruri barely felt the tear track it's way down her cheek. "She could, Omoikane. She's beaten me."

~*~

Megumi Reinard didn't think that when the messenger arrived at the Ecclesiastical Palace that night that she'd be getting a letter from her best friend, Minato. She didn't even know that the Nadesico had landed, let alone that she was receiving letters. She entered the bedroom she shared with her consort, Emperor Rumiko Adagio of Ninlan. "Hey, Rumiko, did you know the Nadesico made it back to Earth?" Rumiko was cleaning his teeth in their simple bathroom, as running water was still considered a luxury on the obscure planet.

"No, I didn't," he said around his toothbrush, "How'd you find out?" Megumi grabbed a letter opener from her nightstand and tore open the envelope. "Because Minato sent me a letter, that's how. Want me to read it aloud? Looks like she has news from Earth, and you know how slow it is to get good news from those idiots, especially with them hating us and all…"

"Yes, read it, Miss Talkative." Megumi stuck her tongue out at him. "Tight-ass. Okay. 'Dear Meg,

Well, I finally got off my big butt and wrote to you! I know, it may seem soon since the Nadesico only landed about three weeks ago, but trust me; it's been a lot longer. That and the fact that you might not be getting this letter for months because Ninlan is way out there…'"

"Wait, now that's odd," interrupted Rumiko. "It SHOULD have taken months. How did it get here so soon?" Megumi shrugged and continued.

"'Well, rumor has it that it takes ages for news to get out there, and though you may have heard about this by the time this letter gets here, but Miss Fressange has done something that probably has changed our world. First of all, guess who Jumped us here? Ryoko! But she wasn't capable of Jumping until Inez did something to the computer long before we even arrived on Ninlan so that everyone that had nanomachines implanted into their blood, and not from birth like Martians, Jupiterians, and Ninlandish mages, can now Jump. Which of course, throws the whole "we hate Jumpers" attitude around here for a loop.'"

"Yeah, thank the Gods that attitude's only on Earth and those damn colonies. We don't take that kind of crap in the outer sect, do we, Meg?"

"'And speaking of that attitude, it's running Yukina out of school, almost. She's the only Jumper at her school, so she's being ridiculed and taunted to no end, and the teachers there refuse to do anything about it. I'm considering taking her out and putting her into an academy, but she's having enough problems keeping up in regular classes. I'm worried how she would be in more accelerated classes. So I think I may just move to another zoning and send her to another school. This whole thing has been wearing her down, I can tell. Just about the only time I saw a smile on her face, a genuine one, was when Ariko's letter came in the mail. Oh, Meg, don't you remember when you were that age when you got your first crush? I think it's so cute.'"

Rumiko snorted. "She would." Megumi sighed. "Shut up, Rumiko! Gods!" She took a sip of water from her cup before continuing.

"'Well, we've settled in Tokyo, so if you guys are ever on Earth, visit! Please! Well, we may be moving somewhere else in the area, but we can't exactly move far out of the area either. See, I got a job at Mugendai. Yes, Mugendai, the company that Itsuki and Yamada-san own! I'm their shared secretary now, and the entire thing makes me wonder exactly how small the world, or universe, is. After all, I started going to Miss How Mei's new restaurant and now Akito works there! Oh, wipe that sneer off your face, Megumi-' Hey! I'm not sneering!"

"Yes you are. Keep reading."

"'And don't deny it either. I know how much you LOVE hearing about your first kiss. Which reminds me, oh partner in gossiping crime. If you're reading this out loud, you might want to stop-' Oh, I suppose… OH! Maybe it is a good idea I stopped!"

"Why, what did she ask?"

"Never mind, Rumiko. Skipping that part… 'Anyway, Not only did I run into Akito, but my first order of business at work was to call Uribatake to see if he would come down to Kawasaki and give Yamada-san and Itsuki some advice about their new project. I'm assuming it's some kind of new Aestivalis, or something that Uribatake would really like to see, because once he got off the phone, Yamada-san was laughing at how excited he sounded.

"'Yukina let me read Ariko's letter to her. Poor Ruri-ruri, she's going crazy because she's being taught basic subjects for her age, things that were below her when she was a baby! I almost want to go visit her and make sure she doesn't do anything drastic, but with that ball coming up, I'm sure she'll want to have some time to herself before she gets bombarded by Nadesico crew again.

"'Yes, that was in Ariko's letter too. I want to tell you now and hope it gets there in time. They're going to be having a ball in Peaceland to celebrate the end of the war and our safe return, but they aren't sending invitations out for a little while yet. Oh, I hope this gets there in time for you to come! It would be a wonderful way to get back in touch.

"'Well, believe it our not, I think this is all I have to tell you. But you've been in normal space when we have not, so maybe your letter back (if you write one that is) will be twice the size. Or you could just visit, since we do have a shopping date that we still need to do. Hope you're doing well and that Rumiko is treating you well too. Love ya, Minato.'" Megumi folded up the letter and smiled softly. "Gods, I miss her. She was my best friend, you know."

"I know."

"Don't give me that tone like I've said it to no end!"

"I didn't give you a tone! I just said I know! Sheesh… So what did she ask?"

"None of your business, Rumiko!"

~*~

The first letter to arrive at Yamada Manor was in fact, not for the Yamada that owned the house, nor was it for his near sister. It, in fact, came for the resident of the guesthouse, who had been raiding his living room and trying to clean it all week. It was Jun's own near sister that came to deliver it to him, on account of who it was from. "Junny, congratulations, for you have received the first letter!"

Jun was finally finished and readjusting the pillows on the couch when Ryoko walked in. "Really? Who's it from?"

"As if you didn't know… Yurika." Jun's heart stopped. He looked back up slowly to Ryoko and held his hand out, a little afraid of the letter in her hand, considering how he had said goodbye to his best female friend. Ryoko handed it to him nonchalantly. "Do you want me to leave the room, Junny?"

"Please," was the only word that escaped his mouth. Ryoko nodded her two-colored head and left the living room of the guesthouse, leaving Jun alone with the letter. He opened it with his finger and reluctantly began to read.

"Dear Jun,

I'm so sorry that we could not say our goodbyes on a good note. There was nothing I could do about that, except stop being such a pain about it, I suppose. Well, I'm sorry. I know you were just trying to look out for me as usual. But really, there was nothing to worry about.

So yeah, I've been spending my time being a test subject at Nergal. Kaguya's been here too, but I'm really starting to become annoyed with her. But that's all right. Most of this stuff is just getting us to be better Jumpers. It's really funny the system that Erina and Miss Fressange set up for us. It's a whole bunch of outside childhood games like Tag and Hide-and-Seek and we just bop around the compound chasing each other while they monitor our movements. It's really funny, but it's really good to know that there won't be any poking and prodding like you got me worried there would be.

So I'm living with 'Tousan in Sasebo again. I think he really misses you living with us Jun! I think he really was looking forward to us getting married and all. Sucks to be him. But really, I think he's feeling old or something and wanted grandkids or something, because just the other night we went out to dinner with one of his pals, Admiral Akiyama. That was the guy that thought I was a 'dashing man of action' way back during the war, do you remember that, Jun? Well, anyway, he brought his former executive along and guess who it was? Takasugi Saburota, of all people! It was obvious then that 'Tousan was just trying to set me up, the asshole. Anyway, I started this whole awkward silence thing about what the Gardenia did and he got really quiet. I scared off a playboy! Cheer for me, because I am! Yippee!

Oh, you know what? I heard that Ruri and Omoikane tried to hack into Nergal's network here in Hiratsuka. Lapis stopped them of course, since she's like second-in-charge of the computers around here, but what surprises me is that Lapis COULD stop those two. And I haven't gotten a letter from Ruri at all! I think I may have to call her sometime really soon and find out what's up. Hopefully she's not hitting a stage and wanting to be an international terrorist (we all have those stages as teenagers, don't we Jun?), because she actually has the intelligence to do so! Oh, I hope she's all right!

So how are things in Kawasaki? I would have thought you'd have moved back here, since this is your hometown and all, but I guess with your mother you really wouldn't want to live here, would you? Magus knows I wouldn't if 'Tousan was as mean as your mom! Oh, don't get upset, Jun! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to bring her up, really!

Okay, before I make much more of a fool of myself in front of you, write me back, tell me how things are over there, what's happening, all of that. Meanwhile, I'll try to figure out what's wrong with Ruri, okay? Later!

Love, Yurika."

Jun suddenly felt bad for yelling at her and for getting so upset. Why ever did he think that it would be so horrible for her? It was proven that she could Jump because she was Martian. So why had he been worried in the first place?

Maybe it was because Akito had always refused, adamantly, to Erina's efforts to study him. But why would Jun trust Akito when it came to that anyway? Of course, Akito was supposed to be Jun's best male friend, but why didn't he trust his own logic over Akito's?

The things Yurika had written about Ruri worried Jun, though he was never really close to the girl as opposed to Uribatake, Minato, Megumi, Akito, and Yurika. But why would someone as smart as her do something as stupid as attempt the hack into the Nergal network? For kicks?

Jun ran a hand through his dark blue hair. Sometimes he wondered if he worried too much about everything.

~*~

TBC…

~*~

A/N: Okay, that took one day to write! WOW! The entire thing. One day. W00t! Anyway, stuff happened that may be raising hell, it might not. I'll let you speculate, hehe. Well, next time, we get to see Ryoko and Izumi in working action, random shopping, and some more letter action. All next time! Until then, remember that giving the author questions comments and concerns is not always a bad thing. Ciao! 


	8. The base is now running off to the cops

A/N: Wow, I'm glad you liked the last one! ^^ Yes, last time's events… were on-the-spot, yes, but I think I may have put some more furniture on the empty stage, so it all worked out. Anyway… yes, Lapis is starting to suck, but eventually we may correct that. Maybe. Anyway, recap. Akito and Minato got jobs, Hikaru wrote an email to Uribatake, Saburota and Yurika aren't going to be together in any way, Ariko got his letter from Yukina, Ruri decided to try to hack Nergal, Megumi got her letter from Minato, and Jun got a letter from Yurika. Um, I think that's all… Well, what do I see this time? More job-stuff, a phone call, a news report, delivered messages, visits, and yet more furniture to the set. Let's a-go!

~*~

When Akito got up the day after Jun got his letter from Yurika, he had no idea that he would have been pressured into taking both Ryoko and Izumi to Tokyo with him. But it's hard to say no when you're too tired to barely stand up and one of those girls was wielding a baseball bat. And of course it happened to be the girl that didn't need a baseball bat to do substantial damage.

"Where did you get the baseball bat, anyway, Ryoko?" asked the Martian as the walked from the train station to the restaurant where Akito had begun putting in real hours. Ryoko shrugged. "Jun's closet."

Akito snorted. "So Jun has a closet baseball fetish?" Izumi rolled her eyes as she opened the door for the two shorter mages. "That sucked and you know it, Tenkawa."

"But of course." How Mei, frying up eggs, glanced up at the sound of her employee's voice. "Well, well, Tenkawa, decided to bring some friends over or something? They gotta pay like everyone else."

"I know I know, and trust me, I had a lot of persuasion. Ever waken up about to be pummeled by a baseball bat?"

"Enough about the baseball bat, Tenkawa!" shouted Ryoko. Izumi rolled her eyes. "Besides, Miss How Mei, we're not here to eat, or to annoy Akito into an early death. Frankly, we've been fairly bored at home."

"Ahh, I see, so it's a job you two want, right?"

Ryoko cleared her throat. "Well, not quite, but something like that. See, Miss How Mei, I'm still fishing around trying to find out what I'm good at, so I'm trying in places that I know probably won't care if I have to leave. Does that make sense?" How Mei nodded. "So you want a part-time position."

"Yeah. But I can't cook like Akito can, so would it be okay if I just hand out food, like a waitress or something?" How Mei nodded again. "Yeah, we don't have any table service at the moment, because no one has listened to that Help Wanted sign out in the window, so I'm sure we can bring you in. Gonna try to control that temper of yours?"

"Yeah, I'll try." How Mei smiled. "And so commences this restaurant becoming even more of a reunion-like place. So, Izumi, I'm assuming you're wanting the same thing?"

Izumi shook her head. "Not quite. In fact, I'd like to talk to your husband, but I don't see him anywhere…"

"That's because I was hiding. Didn't want to interrupt another great Nadesico reunion. What's your name, missy?"

"Maki Izumi. I'm looking for something more than just being a hand though," said the blue-haired guitarist as she walked over to Gareiru's section of the kitchen. "I'd like to have a job where I could be of service, yes, but… I've noticed you have a stage. I'd like to ask more of a favor than anything else."

"Oh, you'd like to perform on that stage. Well, set a night that you want and what you're going to do, and we'll be set."

"Sunday night, and I will be either playing ukulele and reciting alternative poetry, or playing guitar. And I don't mind if people throw rotten vegetables at me."

Gareiru laughed, which made Akito, who was starting to make the morning's hash browns, and Ryoko, who was tying her apron around her waist, look up. "People won't throw rotten vegetables. Besides, it sounds interesting. All right, Maki-san, you got yourself a deal." He offered his hand to the quiet girl. Izumi smiled and shook it. "The pleasure's all mine, Hokashiro-san."

"Call me Gareiru! I've already had to yell at Akito to stop calling me that. And don't make me yell at you either, Subaru-san!"

Ryoko rolled her eyes as she washed her hands. "So within like a few days we'll be all on a first-name basis? This has the smell of a family business already." Ryoko's comment left Gareiru speechless, which gave How Mei the giggles until the customers started pouring in for the day.

~*~

Ruri had a hard time ejecting Omoikane from her room. But once she did, she finally had the peace to open up her laptop, the only computer without conscious thought she owned in this house of horrors her family called Peace Castle. 'Peace indeed.' All that Ruri needed to do was open up her word processor before she started bringing up all of the hopeless she felt only three days ago.

"February 6, 2199. One year ago, Uribatake-san completed his work on Omoikane. He had been begging for a tangible body since before Christmas of 2197. But due to the day, it was easily said that it was a late birthday present. A year later, my birthday is noted to myself only by the day that I was beaten by the only other person who could. The one created to be me and more, Lapis Lazuli.

The only reason she beat me is because I was foolish and tried to hack the Nergal system. I admit, that was highly foolish of me. It was not the right thing to do, even given my situation. Frankly, I was childish, acting to make proof that I am still who I am, despite my tutor and mother treating me like a child, when child I am not.

But perhaps it is not frustration from idiots alone. Perhaps it is this isolation from the old idiots I have come to love so well. From the Nadesico, I have only had contact with my brother, Omoikane, and have read through Ariko's letter from Yukina. That is all. Misumaru-san was right, I have come to depend on them too much, but why did she not heed my warning of leaving me to my own devices? I have never felt so alone in my life. I've learned to be around large amounts of people, and not it seems that I crave that crowd, the attention, the importance.

Being here and being only a princess has made me wonder about my importance. I know that I had gotten the Nadesico out of trouble many a time, but what about now? As the most experienced Electronic Fairy in the world, I should be well needed. But my ideas, thoughts, and even social needs have been pushed away as if I'm just a dumb child. I needed to do something to prove to them that I am not a dumb child, that I am perfectly capable of thinking as an adult. But in turn, I only proved my abilities, not my competence, by doing something so foolish and childish.

But even so, I chose Nergal. Perhaps I longed for that touch from someone from the Nadesico. But instead I was stopped by Lapis. My mirror image on the Gardenia. Someone that I didn't need to see overpower me. But the frustration still lives, why hasn't anyone contacted me? Even Ariko has begun a correspondence with Yukina, so why hasn't Misumaru-san, Minato, Uribatake-san, or even Tenkawa-san called me, emailed me, or written me a letter? I understand that they may be busy with their own lives, and I feel selfish for asking for contact with any one of them.

But isn't someone missing me?"

Ruri stopped, saved, and closed her laptop immediately, for Alfred had entered her room, she turned in her wooden chair to look at him. "What is it?"

"Didn't you hear the phone ring, Princess? It's a friend of yours from your… ship." Ruri felt her amber eyes go slightly wide in surprise. "Thank you Alfred." She reached over to the other side of her desk, where her white phone sat, and picked it up. "Moshi-moshi?"

"Oh, Ruri-chan, I'm so glad you're all right! I can't believe I didn't listen to you and call you earlier or something! Are you okay? What possessed you to do such a thing? Is something going wrong there?"

Ruri felt the corners of her mouth go up as she heard the frantic, worrying babble of her former captain. "Hello, Misumaru-san."

"Don't you 'hello, Misumaru-san' me! You know it's Yurika! Now come on, tell me, is there something wrong?"

Ruri frowned. Exactly what was she to tell her? "Somewhat."

"Well, don't leave me in the dark! Are they hurting you, Ruri? Oh, Magus… that's it isn't it? Are you just scared to admit it?"

"No. They aren't abusing me. I'm just not understood by my parents." It sounded so dumb when she said it, but it was the most brief explanation.

"They don't understand you how?"

Ruri took a deep breath before continuing. "My mother insists that I have a tutor to teach me the things a person of my age should know. However, they don't seem to understand that I was three when I learned Advanced Quantum Mechanics, and unable to walk when I knew the things my tutor is attempting to teach me. Each time I try to tell them, either my mother or my tutor, that I need much more advanced study, if any, they tell me that they know what's best for me, not I, and that children should keep their mouths shut until asked to speak."

"Oh my God of Spirit, Ruri… so you're not being listened to? Don't they even know who you are and what you are? Don't they know you're a genius? What about your father, doesn't he do anything about it?"

"They know enough that they are teaching me accelerated versions of the same lessons, but nothing more. And my father doesn't have time for me. He's too busy dealing with the press about his opinion of Jumpers."

"Oh, no wonder you decided to hack Nergal…"

Ruri's silver eyebrows twitched. It had not made it to the news yet, as far as she knew. "How did you know I hacked Nergal?"

"Oh, I work there now. I'm an experimental subject. Jumping and magic. Don't worry though, Ruri, it's all completely safe. But I have to ask you, is that the only reason you did it?"

Ruri made her decision carefully. She could not tell her that there was another factor, and Yurika would stay her happy self. Or she could tell the truth and have a clear conscience. But she didn't have time to answer, as she heard the former captain of the Nadesico sigh on the other end. "Oh, I should have known. Ruri, has anyone talked to you from the Nadesico before this? And I don't mean your brother or that robot."

Ruri frowned. "No."

"Oh dear Magus! I'm so sorry, Ruri! So I guess you were feeling pretty lonely and forgotten, haven't you? But why hasn't anyone else called, I wonder?"

"Perhaps they are too busy."

"Oh, that's no excuse!"

"Yes it is!" Ruri covered her pale mouth immediately, shocked that she rose her voice to her former superior. "I apologize for that."

"No, no, it's all right. You're frustrated and you don't know what to do, do you, Ruri? Well, okay, let me give you my phone number at 'Tousan's… now don't you hesitate to call okay?"

Ruri nodded, knowing Yurika couldn't see as she wrote down her phone number. Yurika continued talking. "Well, I have to go now, since I have work in the morning, but if your feeling lonely or sad, call me, okay? I'll get on Akito's butt to see if he can call you too, okay? I suppose you were right about leaving you to your own devices. Loneliness just isn't the answer to make you independent, now is it? Well, good night, Ruri!"

"Good night." She hung up the phone, and reopened her laptop, opening the file she had just saved before Yurika called. After staring it for about a minute, she finally pushed the delete button. She didn't need bad reminders of before she was part of the group again.

~*~

"And hacker troubles for Nergal! As the second time the major battleship generating company has been hacked, why aren't they beefing up their security? I'm Anastasia Ball."

"And I'm Andy Suarez. Just a few days ago, the high-security company Nergal Heavy Industries suffered from the attack of a hacker of name unknown, nor released. Drew Evans has the story. Drew?"

"Thank you, Andy. Nergal Heavy Industries is a high-security compound, due to the sheer mass of information they and they alone use in their creation of battleships. So how did a hacker get into their network system? I interviewed the Assistant Head of Computer Maintenance, an eight-year-old girl named Lapis Lazuli, who single-handed stopped the hacker, about the situation.

"Miss Lazuli, do you have any idea what kind of person did you stop from decimating possibly the entire network of one of the most influential companies on the planet?"

"Yes, in fact, I know her personally. Despite what you, the press, is saying, this was a small incident, one that I had been trained to stop."

"So Nergal knows who the criminal is?"

"Yes. But I am not at liberty to say to protect her existence."

"Why is Nergal protecting someone that is so adamantly against them?"

"The hacker is of a certain kind that not many are ready to deal with, but would not have to worry about. Besides, this girl used to also be a Nergal employee, and we believe she was just exercising her abilities as an Electronic Fairy."

"Oh, so the hacker was an Electronic Fairy?"

"Yes."

"Could you please explain what an Electronic Fairy is?"

"I don't think I need to."

"But since this dear child didn't want to explain what an Electronic Fairy was, I looked it up for our viewers and found that it is a nanomachine computer operator that is capable of using healing magic. In other words, a Jumper. Now, there are also only three in existence: Lapis Lazuli, a nine-year-old boy named Makibi Hari, and a fourteen-year-old girl that we should all know, Princess Notsumote Hoshino Ruri of Peaceland."

"But Drew, aren't we still trying to get a statement out of King Fredrick Notsumote the Third of Peaceland about whether or not he approves of Jumpers, while his own daughter is one?"

"I suppose maybe there may be some familial problems that we aren't at liberty to delve into. Well, Nergal has chosen to not press charges, which makes people wonder about whether the company is as 'high-security' as they claim. Andy, Anastasia."

"Interesting story indeed. Thank you, Drew."

"In other news, a new debate has risen among those for and against Jumpers and their rights: Is using Boson Jumping as transportation to the outer sect of the solar system and to deliver letters ethical?"

~*~

The next afternoon, Brigit didn't get the chance to set the mail on the desk in the foyer, as Itsuki was in there all ready. "Oh Brigit, I'll take that. Go tell fry-cook boy to go start dinner, would you? I'm starving!" Itsuki took the pile of mail from the Yamada Manor butler and started thumbing through it as she walked into the parlor. "Bill, bill, bill, junk mail, coupons, junk mail, bill, Oh Hikaru, the navy wants your body…"

"Tell them to go to hell!"

"Will do… coupons, letter for Izumi…" She held it up and to the side, waiting for Izumi to snatch it out of her hands, which she did promptly. Itsuki got to the last piece of mail, her violet eyebrows rising in interest. "Something from Peaceland addressed to all of us." She opened it, tossing the other stuff aside, and read the single paper in it aloud.

"'Attention former Nadesico crew members, you are cordially invited to the Peaceland Peace Ball.' Magus, do you think they said the word peace enough? 'The festivities will begin at 6 PM GMT (7 PM in Peaceland) on Sunday, February 10, 2199. Dress will be formal. Please be prompt.' Wow, they have a great way of sounding imposing, don't they?"

Hikaru glanced at her watch. "Dude, that's on Sunday? It's Thursday now! And I don't know about you, but I have like NOTHING of formal clothing whatsoever. I vote for an emergency trip to some stores!"

Itsuki scratched her chin. "I think I'm going to have to second that. I'll go tell Akito to hold the dinner, and Brigit to get ready to drive, because we're gonna go."

Izumi glanced at the letter in her hands. "I'll just… stay behind, okay?" Hikaru squinted her eyes at her best friend. "Something wrong, Izumi?"

"No, I just want to read Inez's letter in private, and this looks like the best time. Besides, I already have a dress, so it's okay. I'll see you all later."

It took them twenty minutes to round themselves out and leave the house, leaving Izumi sitting on that couch in the parlor, staring at the envelope. She wanted to open it, hoping there was some explanation as to why it was late that was better than "I was busy", dying to read what had been going on in her lover's life and mind, but something stopped her. Izumi was not sure if it was the apprehension that what everyone said was true, that long-distance relationships never worked out, or if it was fear as to what might be in this letter because of their separation, or what. But, as she took a deep breath, she ran a fingernail under the lining of the envelope, forcing it open, and unfolded the letter inside.

"Dear Izumi,

I regret my tardiness in my reply to your previous letter. Greatest apologies. I only hope I did not worry you in any way. Things have been rather hectic around here, but I know that is not the real reason I have not written back in a timely manner. Again, I apologize.

As I said, things here have been rather intense. Erina and I have created a simulation program that both Misumaru-san and Onikirimaru-san can use to play childhood games such as Tag and Hide-and-Seek by Boson Jumping, while we are capable or recording their successes and failures, not to mention their progress in becoming better at the act of Jumping. It's really fascinating. You should come see it, if you are ever in town.

However, it appears as if the next time we see each other will be the Peaceland Ball. We received our invitation early, but it seems a little odd to be going to that place to have a reunion, even with non-Nadesico crew there. Yes, we have decided that Onikirimaru-san, Hari-kun, and Lapis will go as well. Especially Lapis, almost as a reward since she was capable of stopping Ruri from hacking us. I swear, that girl never seems to stop trying the patience and hold of our firewalls. But I'm sure you heard about that incident on the news. It appears as if she was feeling lonely and unimportant, so she did something that would be considered a misdemeanor if it was anyone else. But it was a great exercise for Lapis and enough to scare the new computer maintenance and security crew, which always needs to happen once and a while.

But because Ruri was feeling lonely, I'm afraid I did have a bit of guilt for not making time to write you a response. But I must admit that I have been wondering about our position in our relationship. I understand how we both feel about each other, but I wonder, are we ready for such a long break from each other? We have only recently become lovers. Not that I'm asking for a way out, mind you. I'm just wondering if this separation may cause a rift to form, an unwanted one. That is probably the main reason I keep asking if you will have a little trip out here, or if you could accommodate for me to come visit you. I just fear that us being apart will start thoughts about others that will cause us to separate completely from each other.

I await your response either by letter or at the ball.

Love, Inez Fressange."

The letter was brief, concise, yet oozed of the intelligence Izumi loved best in Inez. Izumi was glad that Inez approached the fears they shared, as Izumi had been wondering about the exact same thing. It made her wonder even more if the connection between them wasn't as platonic as it seemed.

But another thought entered Izumi's mind. Was this approached because Inez was wondering the same thing, or was it because Inez was beginning to be faced with this problem there. After all, Erina was there, and Inez had been in love with Erina for quite some time, hadn't she?

Izumi shook her head, remembering her own letter. No, Inez was probably asking about their relationship problems because Izumi had injected several puns in her letter, and Inez knew that was her way of dealing with pain, so perhaps she was worried? Yes, that seemed the best exclamation.

Izumi got up from her perch on the couch, entered the foyer, and began her ascent up the stairs. She wanted to see if her blue Chinese dress still fit her.

~*~

Hikaru was sitting in the study later that night working on the alter-ego of her protagonist in her manga when the computer beeped at her. She looked up to realize that she had received an email. Groaning at the thought that it was just junk mail, she opened her email up. She was pleasantly surprised to find that it was in fact an email from the exact person she wanted an email from.

"Hey Hikaru, I was going to try to find your email just the other day too! See, I kind of lost it in the laundry. I know, stupid me. Anyway, I'm glad things over there are great. I'd been thinking about coming and visiting, but I don't need the whispering and shit from those losers you live with. No offense if Izumi is reading over your shoulder or something.

Things here have been slow. Me and Ayuko (that's my wife's name, or soon to be ex-wife) have figured out who's going to take what when we finally do separate. Since she's leaving me the house and taking Genji (her son, she found out that it was one of her other boyfriends from high school that got her pregnant, so he's not mine), she's taking a lot of the furniture. I'm fine with that, as long as she doesn't take anything from my workshop. Those are my BABIES! But she said she "doesn't want any of the junk". So things have been going pretty good lately. I even got a commission that may pay really well, so I don't have to worry about having a lack of furniture for a while. Oh, I forgot, the commission came from Kazamo and Yamada, so you probably already know about that.

So, you've been working on your manga, have you? I never did get the low-down on what's it's about. Maybe you could tell me or something? I mean, I know I'll probably just start getting it once you get published, but it'd be nice to see which direction your mind has gone in accordance to this project of yours.

Holy crap, you sure did get to the root of how many people feel about Jumpers, didn't you? Jeez, you don't have to rant to me, I completely understand and agree! But I know you were just talking through your fingers all the things that haven't been able to come out. In any case, I seriously think that the whole 'debate' thing is just dumb. What's the point in trying to figure out whether Jumpers are good or not? Thing is, they're a new kind of people and their here to stay, so treat them like everyone else because they ARE everyone else. Maybe it's the fact that I know you guys pretty well and all, but I don't even see what kind of evidence this anti-Jumper freaks are pulling out of their ass.

Well, back on current events, did you get your invitation to that party in Peaceland? Ayuko's asking me to take her, if only for a last while-we're-married thing, but I'm really looking forward to seeing you guys again.

Well, I suppose it's redundant to ask you to respond, so I'll see you in a couple days. See ya.

-Seiya AKA Uri-P"

Hikaru giggled when she finally closed the program. She was finally going to see him after so long, which really wasn't so long. Only about three weeks. And he understood what she meant. She began to wonder why she was afraid of him not getting why she was asking about the divorce thing as she started back on her character development. She occasionally stopped to giggle about the ball that suddenly was becoming all she could look forward to, until her manga didn't seem quite so important anymore.

~*~

The last people Minato expected to see show up at her doorstep did exactly that, resulting in squeals, hugs, and overall shocked questions. But Minato quickly realized that she was to be a polite hostess and showed both Yurika and Megumi in, the three of them sitting in the living room. "How did you get in so fast, Meg?"

Megumi tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. Well, we finally got our invitation yesterday morning, so I insisted to Rumiko that we use the Jump shuttle to get here so we could spend some time with you guys. And since the poor boy's never been to Earth-"

"Wait, Jump shuttle? Didn't they talk about that on the news?" asked Yurika. Megumi shrugged. "I don't know, we don't get proper news out there. But all it is is a shuttle station that connects to Earth, Mars, Jupiter, and Ninlan, because you could travel the regular way from those stations to any of the other places, and we don't like to take weeks and months to travel to another place."

Yurika grinned and clapped her hands. "So we can finally get together and gossip like chickens and not be worried about general war-like things! My God of Spirit that sounded odd… anyway, I needed to get a dress for that ball anyway. I haven't had time with work and all."

Minato nodded. "Yeah, between paperwork to get a zoning waiver for Yukina and all that's going down at work too, I haven't had time to go shopping for us either, though I was thinking about taking her today, since I'm off today… Wait, Yurika, where do you work?"

Yurika took her gray sweater off to show her Nergal off-duty shirt. "Still at Nergal. I'm an experimental Jump subject, but it really is quite a good job, even if all we do is bounce around the compound." She eyed Minato's own t-shirt, which wasn't Nergal, but Mugendai. "And I see you're in with one of top ones too, ne?"

Minato stretched her own off-duty shirt out so they could see it better. "Yeah, I told Meg in my letter, but I'm the shared secretary of Kazamo-san and Yamada-san. Really fun job. Wait." She turned to Megumi. "If you already got your invitation, you must have gotten my letter." At the American's nod, Minato's smile twisted into one of evil. "So, are you going to answer my question, Emperor's Consort?" Megumi blushed.

"Wait, what question? What did you ask her?"

Minato crossed her arms smugly. "I know that if she has a title like that, she's obviously no longer a virgin. I was just going to ask her how Rumiko was." Megumi squeaked and hid her face in her hands. "So?"

"To tell the truth…" said Megumi, muffled slightly by her hands, "he's really not the greatest. Really…" Minato and Yurika roared with laughter at both Megumi's embarrassment and the confirmation that the stubborn, easily annoyed Emperor of Ninlan was not exactly the greatest gift to women.

Minato glanced at her watch. "Well, if we're going to go in search of dresses to wear to Peaceland, I think we should leave now so I can easily take Yukina later." The three women got up and left the apartment, walking down to the mall that was down a few streets from where Minato lived.

They had officially taken over one certain store, and while Yurika was trying on her choice, Megumi finally got a moment alone with Minato, who was glancing over a few of the Ninlandish-style dresses they had. "So have things really been that bad out here for you, Minato?"

"What, you mean the things with Yukina?" Minato sighed. "I'm afraid so. Did I tell you that she's taken to wearing gloves to school? She's insisting that we also get her gloves with her dress when we go shopping. The whole thing is making her ashamed of who she is, something I never thought would happen. Tsukumo must be rolling in his grave." Minato brushed the side of her right eye, apparently wiping a tear. "To think that I've become so attached to her in such a short time Megumi."

Megumi frowned. "You know that the whole anti-Jumper thing has only started since Ninlan became a recognized state, and people immigrated between the planets. There are blood-Ninlanders living on Earth, and Earthlings and Jupiterians living on Ninlan. We've always been very accepting of the new people, especially since some may have been mages themselves, fleeing the prejudice that seemed immediate after our induction. But the regular humans who just wanted to check out living somewhere else, we accept them too, because Ninlan has always been a planet of all peoples, except for when Magus was in control, you know. Everyone is Ninlandish there, kind of like how it was with America almost two hundred years ago, until they created their own culture and everyone there was no longer recognized as different races, just all American. I don't know if that makes sense, but you get it, right?"

"So you're basically saying that Earth is full of pigs."

"I didn't say that!"

"Well, whether you said it or not is not the point. That's what I'm saying."

Megumi didn't get a chance to respond, as Yurika emerged from the dressing room in the pink and lavender dress she chose. "So what do you guess think, good or no?" Megumi stopped and glanced over Yurika as she turned this way and that. "I don't know, I thought you'd go for something more… elaborate."

Yurika shook her head, pulling her thick blue-violet hair up so she could see how low it dipped in the back. "No, I like simple. It doesn't cause people to stare at your dress as much as they can stare at you in general. And I like pink, it's a pretty good color, when it's light and pale like this."

Minato nodded. "I'm not one for the color, but I think it could work… some pearls maybe, light purple heels, some clips of the same color… You could just pull it off." Yurika smiled at her former helmswoman, seeing that she had a dress of Ninlandish style in her arms. "Okay, let me hop out of this and you can have the room." Yurika went back into the dressing room and, five minutes later, emerged with the dress and plastic, dressed back in her shirt, sweater, and jeans. Once Minato disappeared into the dressing room, she noticed that Megumi wasn't looking for something to wear at all. "How come you aren't looking around, Meg?"

"Oh, I got my dress before we left. Rumiko was whining that he would not let me have a great audience if I was looking frumpy. I socked him in the arm for that."

Yurika giggled. "So it's true, you are his…" She couldn't come up with the word.

"Consort? Yes. Frankly, it's mostly because I'm the only person on that planet now that doesn't see him for what I do. I don't see him as the Emperor of Ninlan, I just see him as the guy that used to live in a one room house and had the comfiest chair in the world."

Yurika laughed again. "So, Megumi, you really do love him?"

"Yeah, it's just that I still can't figure out why." Before Yurika could laugh again, Minato emerged, wearing the ruffled white blouse with extended sleeves, peach corset and peach skirt of her choice. "See, Yurika, I don't like pink, but peach is a nice color, in my opinion. Megumi nodded, agreeing. "Now that is more like it." Minato rolled her eyes. "Meg, you know the only reason you like is because it's Ninlandish." Megumi crossed her arms huffily. "So I like the style, leave me alone!"

Yurika smiled at Minato. "I think that looks great on you. It somehow makes you look maternal or something."

"I almost thought you said maternity, so I have to ask. It doesn't make me look fat, does it?"

"No, in fact, all it does it draw attention to your breasts," answered Yurika. Minato turned to the mirror, playing with her light brown hair for a moment. "I figure I can just pull back some of my hair, leave the rest loose, and then I probably wouldn't have to worry much about accessories… except shoes of course."

Megumi nodded, standing up from the bench they were sitting on. "So I'm assuming that's our next stop, ne?" Minato went back into the dressing room to change back into her shirt and pants. Yurika sighed, wrapping an arm around Megumi's shoulders. "I'm sure you missed us more than we missed you because you've been without us longer, but it really is great to see you again. Really."

Megumi smiled at her one-time rival. "You too, Yurika. You too."

~*~

"I am leaving you. Indefinitely." The Martian woman's jaw dropped. She certainly didn't think this is what Erina called her in to tell her. And the fact that the CEO of Nergal was being so blunt and crude about it made it rough along the edges.

"So, that's it? That's all I'm going to get? No explanation, nothing? And the day before the Peaceland ball?"

Erina stood, leaving the dumb-founded Kaguya at the table so she could have some kind of overpowering stature against her now former lover. "Yes, that is all. If you want an explanation so bad, you'd probably have paid more attention to the world around you, instead of just basking in the superiority I have given you by sleeping with you. You were a pawn, Kaguya. Plain and simple. You knew from the very beginning what kind of a person I was: manipulative and stubborn, and that I would use you to get what I want. Well, I'm finished with you."

"So you're just going to toss me away like used garbage? Without even telling me why you used me?"

"In a word, yes."

Kaguya let out a sob. "But… but I thought we were meant for each other…"

"Hah! That's a load of bullshit, Kaguya. You know full well we WEREN'T made for each other. We were just two powerful women using each other to gain even more power. Well, I'm breaking off the connection before you start to siphon anymore off of me."

"I… Is it someone else, Erina?"

Erina rolled her eyes. "Can't you just accept it, Kaguya? I'm DONE with you. You KNOW I've always had my sights set on someone else. Call me cold and bloodthirsty, but I've been brought up to use people and then throw them away. Guess what stage you're at now."

Kaguya glared at Erina, her violet eyes full of tears. "It's Miss Fressange, isn't it?"

"Don't be ridiculous. Now I have things to do before we all leave for Peaceland tomorrow, so I suggest you go home and go to bed. Sleep off all that has just happened, and you'll feel loads better in the morning." With that, Erina left her office, leaving Kaguya alone in the darkened room.

Kaguya didn't know who she was angrier with, Erina for leaving her, or herself for falling for the manipulative woman. Her tears finally spilled over as she clenched her eyes and mouth closed, to copy her fists in her lap. "Erina doesn't realize that she's mine. She's mine. I own her. She can't go to anyone else. I won't let anyone else own her, because she is MINE!" she shouted, standing and running out of the room, determined to run straight home.

~*~

TBC…

~*~

A/N: Ahh, the last setting-up chapter before we get to some real… fake action. ^^ Well, how was it? I do admit, some of it was rather on the spot, but I think we covered everyone very nicely to set up for the big gathering, which I may remind you is next chapter in entirety. ^^ Okay, so you know what to do, and you know what I want. I leave with that in your mind. Ciao! 


	9. Peaceland Ball, part one

A/N: Oh dear… this got too long too fast. Oh dear. Well, that's okay. I said that Peaceland Ball was going to be one chapter? I lied, it's now two. Sorry, but this would be way too freaking long if it was all one. Gomen! Well, I guess this is what you would call the first half of the Peaceland Ball um… saga? God, that sounds horrid. Oh well, that's what it is. Setting stages up here for the big one. Oh yeah, the big one. Which is… not this chapter. Anyway, go ahead and read the stage setting for… another stage setting! ^^ You gotta love these intricate plots, don'tcha? ^^

~*~

Hikaru somehow had gotten herself out of the carriage first, hopping down onto the paved road and yelping in pain, rubbing her ankle as she stepped onto the sidewalk. Nodding her head to the doorman that held open the door of their carriage, front in the line of many others, she continued to rub her ankle as Ryoko helped her lover out of the carriage after getting out herself. Itsuki clicked her tongue on the roof of her mouth, shaking her head. "Hikaru, I knew you weren't used to heels when I took a look at the shoes you wore on the Nadesico!" exclaimed she, fisting her hands on her hips, or at least where one would find them, as they were hidden under many petticoats that dwelled beneath her brown, Ninlandish style dress. "Those things were flats! You should have wore those or at least something less… murderous on your feet."

Hikaru glared at her as the rest of their carriage emptied. "I know that I hate heels, Itsuki. Aer, I could have told you that! But this is strictly formal, you nimrod, and I'm not wearing a dress that hides my feet unlike some other people…" she retorted pointedly, glancing at the hem of Itsuki's skirts, which was lifted so one COULD see the brown heels underneath. Itsuki dropped her skirts huffily. "But I on the other hand am used to heels, so I don't understand why a person like you would undergo such torture just because people can see your feet."

Izumi smiled, combing a hand through her blue bangs, the only part of her hair that fell loose. "Because they'll be off her feet for the rest of the night five minutes after we get in." Hikaru's hand flew to her chest, as if you grip her heart. "Oh, Izumi! You wound me! I'll have the off the second we get in the door, you know that!"

Jun, the last to get out of the carriage, rolled his blue eyes, shooing them along. "People, we're holding up a whole lot of other people AGAIN tonight, so will you just follow the Flamma-damned servants and get your asses inside?" After the shuttle ride and then being picked up at the shuttle station by awaiting carriages, and trying to keep the rambunctious residents of Yamada Manor under control, Jun's temper was already losing grip and his patience was slowly losing the battle between them, as well. With a few mumbles and rolled eyes, the small crowd of mages walked up the stairs to Peaceland Castle and walked through the door that another servant was holding open. Yet another stood inside the door, bowing with a stiff upper lip and leading down a very frightening corridor.

The hallway they entered was barely lit, something they found odd for a place that was to be soon brimming with people. The polished suits of armor were situated to be holding red candles, the wax building up on their fingers, which would obviously have to be cleaned tomorrow. There were no lights by the door and halls that they passed, almost as if to deter people from venturing into them. Red velvet hung in cascades from the ceiling, far above their heads, but low enough where they were capable of fluttering in the breeze that erupted from the doors as they opened and shut, letting in even more guests, almost trapping them in this darkened hall that seemed to be the dwelling of nightmares.  
As they reached the double doors at the end of the hall, the servant did not give warning at all. He just opened them both, the light and joyful laughter pouring over them. The ballroom was not full, but there were many that had already arrived, and they were a spectacle in comparison to the room, which was in a few words, a warm glow. Lights of natural and electric alike were shining upon draperies of soft white cloth and lace, the entire room something of a place to have fun and forget the darkness that had passed, but to welcome the joy of now, the peace that had come and swept the world they were in now.

Akito glanced to the right and was pleased to realize that there was food to be had, and lots of it. Poking the first person available, which just happened to be Ryoko, he jerked his thumb at the large buffet table set up. "I vote for food." While they had eaten before getting on the shuttle, but Akito had not, claiming he wasn't hungry. Now, as he saw the steaming plates of various dishes, many exquisite and exotic, and he couldn't help but appease that growling in his stomach.

Ryoko shrugged, heading off with the Martian. She wasn't exactly hungry, but she had seen someone, most likely some technician she didn't know, or some Nadesico groupie or someone of the press, with some Martian stew on his or her plate, which had always been one of Akito's dishes that she worshipped and adored. She wasn't exactly going to say no to her current food crush, now was she?

With two of their number gone, Jun sighed. "Well, I guess we should establish our specific area, come over here and die spot, don't you think?" The others nodded, but some of them were distracted. Hikaru stomped her now bare foot on the ground. "Aer-dammit, Uri-P ain't here yet!" Gai rolled his eyes. "I knew there had to be one and only one reason for you to come all dressed up and not in some random costume or t-shirt and jeans of yours!"

Izumi was also looking for someone, glancing about. Once she found who she was looking for, she left their group, punching Gai on the arm as she walked away. The tallest of them rubbed his arm, his eyebrows knitting. "What the hell was that for?" he called out, not expecting an answer.

Hikaru crossed her arms, pouting. "Gai, she IS my best friend you know, so that was for being a really big… ass…" Hikaru's speech drifted off as a familiar face wandered into view. Her jaw slowly dropped and she began glancing around. "Junny, do you see Akito anywhere? Oh hell, I hope Ryoko isn't pissed at him today!" Jun was confused, but as he looked where she was now pointing, he just covered his face. "Crazy woman… aw hell, and I was about to and try to find a sanctuary too… If you need me I'll be in the bathroom before she decided that I'm her Prince Charming!" squeaked the fire mage, bolting off to a small room to the left, near the kitchens and buffet table.

Itsuki was now intrigued, and looked over her shoulder, raising her brown gloves to her mouth. "Oh my… Oh, this is precious!" She waved the girl that both Jun and Hikaru were completely shocked over. The latter pulled Itsuki's arm down, even as the girl walked over. "Itsuki, what are you doing, don't you know who that is?!?"

"Of course I know who that is, we used to play as children." She pulled her arm out of Hikaru's grasp and said loudly, "Didn't we, JIRO?!?" At the sound of Gai's real name, he winced twice. First because of the blatant use of his real name, and second because he now had a cling-on his arm.

"Jiro? Yamada Jiro! Oh, I haven't seen you in ages! And you've grown so handsome and lovely, I almost forgive you for dumping me as your friend!" squealed Aqua Crimson, the unlikely CEO of the Crimson Group, the main manufacturer of barrier satellites. Gai sighed in pain, waving his arm as best he could before whining, "Itsuki… why did you call her over here… I was almost enjoying myself…"

"Well, we certainly can't have that, now can we Jiro?"

Aqua looked up at Gai batting her dark brown eyes. "Haven't you gotten rid of her yet, Jiro? I thought that you wanted us to have lots of children and live forever together! Not exactly my favorite end to a romantic story, but if we kill off a kid or two it should be enough death and tragedy to keep me happy!"

Hikaru giggled, covering her mouth. "I had no idea psychotic necromaniacs could be so amusing!" Itsuki nodded. "Now you see why we kept her around for so long?"

Gai groaned, still making pathetic attempts to rescue his arm from the heterosexual loving it was being subjected to. "I would rather call it drastic sado-masochism, and I never wanted to keep her around. Itsuki, save me… please?"

Itsuki never got to, for two no-longer hungry pilots had arrived. Akito's jaw dropped and he almost dropped the cup in his hand if Hikaru hand not rushed over and grabbing it from him, sipping it and watching his face. Ryoko sighed, still keeping good hold of her small bowl of Martian stew. "Of all people to run into… Aqua Crimson?"

The blonde half-Australian rushed over, letting Gai's arm breathe while she quickly began suffocating Akito's. "Oh Akito! I never thought I'd see you again! I didn't want you to die without me!" Now it was Gai's turn to do a double take. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute here. 'Kito, you've been randomly molested by this pathetic waste of breath and mind?" At Akito's nod, Gai turned, covering his eyes. "Dear Aer, Give me the strength to not throttle this girl bearing your lover's name."

Akito rolled his eyes, ignoring the nuzzling Aqua was giving him. "Oh, don't tell me you're going to be jealous of every girl that's ever touched me, because trust me Gai, you may have been given my virginity, but I certainly did get around, whore that I was." Akito glanced at Ryoko who was trying hard not to laugh. "Oh, don't even try it. I'd love it if you could get her off me like last time, please?"

Ryoko shook her head, grinning evilly. "No way, Akito. Last time was because I had a crush on you. This time, I'd like to thank you, Aqua, for making me realize exactly how very pansy-like Akito was and for helping me become a lesbian." Gai shook his fist at Aqua, who was oblivious to this act. "Ditto for me and you being a huge factor of why I'll never sleep with girls!"

Itsuki lifted her skirts and walked over to Akito, smiling and shaking her head. "Now this is precious… two of the most important people in my life made quite homosexual because of this girl here. Aqua dear," she loosened Aqua's grip on Akito, especially since Aqua was now paying attention to Itsuki and not Akito, "Why don't you, I, Ryoko, and Hikaru come over here and explain to you why exactly Akito and Jiro don't love you, okay?" As the four girls walked away with Ryoko grumbling and Hikaru asking gleefully, "Do we get to beat it into her head if she doesn't get it?"

Akito crossed his arms and sighed. "Gai, I don't even know what I'm going to do with you…" Gai turned to him and shook his head, narrowing his eyes. "You got so pissed at me while the war was still going on because I didn't tell you that Itsuki and I were once meant to be married. But here you are and not telling me that even Aqua had a crush on you, not to mention all the other girls that you've strung along in the process. Don't you think that's a little hypocritical?"

Akito rubbed his temples in frustration. "Okay, Gai, look. I'm sorry and an asshole, but you seriously have got to stop getting so damn jealous! It's not my fault I'm Martian okay? I didn't ask to attract everything female from here to Ninlan, all right? I'm just going to have to politely tell them 'sorry, got a boyfriend.' Now in the case of that crazy woman, I'm far too scared to, but I think the girls are handling it very well."

Gai rolled his eyes. "Of course they're doing very well. It's always been Itsuki's goal to convert Aqua to lesbianism anyway." He sighed, glancing at the door. "Okay, I'll stop getting so damn jealous as long as you tell me which women I have to keep a watch for hitting on you, okay? Now if I were you'd I'd prepare myself for a large group hug. I'm off to grab some food." And so he was off, without planting a chaste kiss on Akito's lips. Akito fisting his hands on his hips, but not for long because he was attacked by a random group hug.

Grinning at the amounts of missing love he had just received, he pulled the closest girl over and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. And of course it was Sayuri, possibly the one he had bonded with the most. "So how has life in the limelight been treating you gals?"

"Well I don't know about that, but I'm sure beginning to hate it!" Akito narrowed his eyes, his jaw dropping. "You're kidding me? Why?"

Mikako rolled her brown eyes. "Sayuri's alone in that one. I absolutely love this whole thing!" Eri crossed her arms and stuck her nose in the air. "Well I don't like it either. They seem to think they can turn us into whatever they want!" Junko shook her head. "We can't exactly wear whatever we want, but they really do mean well, Eri. We have to set a good example and all for our potential fans!" Harumi sighed. "But we have no potential fans. The only people who care about us is the media and talking about how five girls that used to cook on the Nadesico can't sing and that our songs have no depth and are too bubbly and all kinds of things that just don't make any sense!" Mikako sighed, dejected. "Well, all the rumors about us just being no-namers that used our fame as Nadesico cooks to get into the business."

Akito shook his head. "I'm sorry this didn't work out for you guys. I'm the one that gave you the contract in the first place." Eri hit him over the head. "Akito, what is your problem? It's not your fault that things aren't working out!" Mikako nodded. "That's right, if anything you gave us something more!" Sayuri sighed. "But I just wish that we could go back to cooking again, but with our reputation I don't know if we can." Akito snapped his fingers. "That's it! How Mei's got her restaurant in Tokyo now, why don't you go ask her if you could be more foot soldiers in her kitchen? I'm sure she won't have a problem with you!" The How Mei girls shrieked and started to clamor off in search of the Chinese cook, stopping to give Akito one last hug. "You're the best, Akito!"

Sayuri stayed behind, smiling at Akito. "Man, Akito, you just seem to amaze us more and more." Akito waved her away. "Yeah, whatever, and you don't want Eri and Mikako to hammer out the details of you guys working at Peaceful Days. You'll end up paying to work there." Sayuri realized that Akito was right and hurried away. He smiled and shook his head. That was probably his second favorite group of girls in the world.

~*~

Ryoko rolled her eyes at her girlfriend's behavior towards Aqua. "Dude, aren't we supposed to be trying to tell her to lay off Yamada and Tenkawa?" Itsuki shook her head. "No, this is much more important. Trust me, I've been to a party with her here, and if she's here, havoc will reign." Hikaru made an odd face. "Um, shouldn't we be speaking a bit quieter if we're talking about here right in front of her face?" Itsuki shook her head again. "Look at her. She's got that dreamy look. She's obviously thinking about some Romeo-and-Juliet-style murder-suicide scene involving either Jiro or Akito, the lovely little morbid girl."

Ryoko crossed her arms and blew a raspberry, "But I don't get why you have to hit on her." Itsuki sighed, as if it was so obvious. "It's almost like a game. I hit on her; she tells me what I want to know. She responds well to flattery. Now," she turned back to the blonde girl, "Aqua, you didn't go into the kitchen at all, did you?"

Aqua's dreamy look disappeared and her smile returned. "It's so nice that you think I'm lovely Itsuki. I think I'm lovely too, but for some reason Jiro and Akito don't see it. Oh, the kitchens?" she asked, her mind switching gears again. "Yes, I went in there. Why?"

Itsuki nodded, fingering some of the fabric of Aqua's dress. "This is such a nice dress, Aqua. Same color as your name… fits you absolutely well. Now, did you put anything in anything while you were in the kitchen, my dear?"

Aqua put a finger to her lips, thinking. "Well, I put some sugar in some spicy stuff, to make it, you know, less spicy… I put a little bit of salt in the salad because I love salt on tomatoes, it's really yummy! And… oh, just a teensy bit of paralyzing powder on the supreme pizza!" She grinned. Itsuki squeezed her eyes shut. "Magus damn it all to the five layers of hell."

On the other side of the room, a commotion began, causing the three Nadesico girls to look up. Mr. Prospector himself and collapsed in a heap after eating a slice of pizza. Viktor cried out, with his mouth being one of the few things he COULD move, "Damn you Crimson! I thought it was just cheese!" Hikaru began to giggle. "Maybe we can find Junny and he can distract Aqua while we tell everybody about the pizza… or not." She retracted her statement when Inez, dressed in a gray, plain formal dress, got up on the stage that the orchestra was set up on to make an announcement.

"Ahem, if you could shut up? Thank you. Anyone that ate pizza is most likely on the floor and unable to move, so please shout so that we know who you are and get you to a safe place. His highness King Fredrick is calling the paramedics so you can get the proper medical attention. Also, will no one else eat that particular breed of food until they can throw out the ones with the 'additives', and can someone please keep Miss Crimson out of the kitchens for the rest of the night? She is skilled in brewing chemicals that cause paralysis. Thank you." She began to descend the steps off the stage and the music began to play once again.

Hikaru laughed. "Well, gee, looks like I found Izumi! She freaking scoped out Inez right away, it looks like."

~*~

Izumi crossed her arms as Inez climbed down the steps leading up to the stage. "Obviously you've dealt with this sort of problem before." Inez nodded, rolling her eyes as the walked away from the stage and toward another part of the room. "You aren't a big name in business unless you've attended many of the parties. Aqua happens to be a big name in business. You just get used to remembering that if there's anyone by the name of 'Crimson' here, don't eat anything." Izumi nodded, running her hands through her bangs once again. "Who invited her anyway?" Inez shrugged. "I suppose whoever was deciding who had a hand in ending the war. You have to admit that those barrier satellites helped immensely in blocking those damned Chulips." Izumi nodded, glancing at where Mr. Hory now helped the paramedics lift the obviously and oddly heavy Viktor onto a stretcher. "So you brought those goons with you… speaking of Big Business Names, where are Miss Won and Onikirimaru-san?"

"Late, I suspect. I came early and Viktor and goat did as well. I don't know why they came early other than to beat the crowds, but I came to spend some time with you before the wicked witches showed up."

"You flatter me. We all know you just wanted to catch up before I fell back into my role as a trophy."

"Ahh, and the truth comes out. I knew you thought I think of you as a trophy. Truth is I don't."

"Oh really? Then why is it that you flaunt me everywhere when we're together?"

"Because people were attracted to you and attracted to me, before they realized exactly how quacked we both are. Excuse my scientific language. Besides, Izumi, if I were going for a trophy lover, I'd go for someone more flauntable, like Misumaru-san or something. You should know that."

Izumi sighed. She really should have, Inez was right. But something was still nagging her about this whole situation. But of course at that exact moment the rest of the Nergal associates, Kaguya, Yurika, Erina, Hari, and Lapis, had arrived. She sighed again, glancing at her lover. "I'm sure you want to go talk to them, don't you?"

Inez furrowed her eyebrows. "Absolutely not. I'm getting so sick of them. Let's go somewhere else and talk." She began walking in another direction, towards the punch table, asking a few people along the way if they had drunken any of the punch and if they were feeling healthy. "So Izumi, tell me about some of this poetry you're going to start reciting at this restaurant of How Mei's."

~*~

Akito decided that it was a good idea if he and Gai walked around separately during some of the event. He certainly didn't want to become, once again, one of those couples that just hangs around as a couple rather than hangs around with friends. That's what caused the rifts between he and the rest of the pilots when Gai and he were fighting last time. Besides, there were some people he wanted to talk to. He wanted to make sure Ruri was all right, first of all, after hearing the report on the news. But it was while he was wondering around looking for her that he was approached by a certain captain that he had not properly spoken to in a long time.

"Um, hi, Akito," stammered Yurika, biting her lip. She could almost smell the tension that still lay between them. But she held her blue-violet head high, knowing that she had grown up a lot since they had split up.

"Hi Yurika. Um, what's new?" He could see that while she was trying to stand perfectly still, his childhood friend was fidgeting, wringing her perfectly manicured hands.

"Well, actually Akito… nothing that wasn't in Jun's letter, which I suppose he read to you all, right?" At Akito's nod, she took a deep breath. "Actually, I was going to ask you if you wanted to dance. Because, you know, we kind of need to talk and all, I think, don't we?"

Akito glanced to his right. Gai was off making himself busy by annoying Itsuki and Ryoko. Then a thought crossed Akito's mind. 'I have to make sure he won't get insanely jealous when people approach me. I'm getting sick of being smothered, so let's see if he can handle me dancing with my ex-girlfriend, shall we?' He nodded, offering his arm to Yurika, who smiled and took it, letting him lead her to more of the center of the floor.

After they had situated hands and arms and fallen into the soft beat of the music, Yurika's eyes traveled to the floor. "Look, Akito, all those things I said about you, all that time ago… it was really messed up." At Akito's snort, she glared at him. "Well it was! Tell me it wasn't!"

"Oh, I'm not disagreeing with you. I think what you did say about me WAS really messed up. I'd not like to think that everyone who's had a crush on me to be a pedophile." Yurika stuck her tongue out in disgust. But then she sighed. "Well, I was just trying to say that I was out of line saying that to you. After all, we were supposed to be friends and all right? Well, I guess I really was just the airhead everyone thought I was. Including you."

Akito nodded. "So why are you apologizing now? Isn't it kind of late?" Yurika sighed. "Well, I guess I'm just trying to tell you that I've grown up a lot since then, so I'm not an airhead, at least not as much anymore. I was just wondering if we could ever go back to being friends?"

Akito paused, trying to figure out how to give his answer. "Yurika… I don't think we could ever go back to just being friends. I mean, even now it just sounds like you're flirting with me all over again. I think we've ripped the paper and even tape can't fix it, you know?"

Yurika's face fell and she stopped dancing, pulling her upper appendages away from the cook. "You think… you think I'm hitting on you? After… after telling you that I just want to be your friend?" Akito glared at her, crossing his arms. "Well what am I supposed to think?"

"What are you SUPPOSED to think? You're supposed to at least say you'll be my friend! People think I'm over him but I'm not, Magus-dammit! He took my fucking virginity, Akito! I even think I fucking loved him! I need someone to talk to me that I won't have to worry about whether or not THEY'RE flirting with me, but when I turn to you for comfort, you just push me away! Maybe I'm not the only one that needed to grow up, have you considered that Akito? I was right before! You are a FUCKING LITTLE KID!" She ran off impossibly in her pink heels, brushing into the crowd and becoming invisible almost instantly.

Akito just rubbed his temples. "Aqua, give me patience because all I want to do is punch the next person that talks to me." He walked away from the scene, in the other direction, intent on finding someone, anyone, to complain about Yurika to. "Fucking bitch. How dare she call me a Aqua-damned kid."

~*~

Ruri frowned at the behavior of two of her favorite adults from the Nadesico. It looked as if things never were to change between them. They would always be fighting. Maybe it was because they were too much alike. Maybe they were both just too foolish. "Honto, baka baka!" she whispered, then covered her pale mouth. She had not said that in a long time, or at least had not been compelled to do so. But now, as she looked around and as her eyes welcomed the faces of familiar people that she had been wishing for the contact with, her lips turned up slightly. Although they were in Peaceland, and not on the ship, it was almost as if she was on the Nadesico once again. People were angry at each other, some others were acting like fools, and people were just as they had been before the ship landed on Earth and they parted ways. Perhaps it was her comfort that caused her to say her once catch phrase, calling those around her idiots. It did, at the very least, mark that she no longer had to worry about other people not caring about her. They had all showed up, hadn't they?

However, Ruri was then approached by someone that she was not lamenting the absence of in her life. Hari had tapped her on the shoulder and was now bowing profusely. Ruri could feel the corners of her lips fall as the behavior everyone had been treating her with and that she loathed was brought back into the evil light. "Your Highness, I've noticed you haven't danced at all tonight, and I was wondering if… if you don't mind of course… If I were to ask you to dance, please?"

Ruri could just feel the urge to roll her eyes. This boy that would not treat her like Hoshino Ruri was really starting to get on her nerves, but she had to acknowledge that he was just trying to be kind. Besides, it seemed like he was quite attracted to her, as he gave her much more respect than everyone else that acknowledged that she was a princess did. But something stopped her. She didn't know if it was her pride, or possibly some subliminal message from her gut, but something told her to reject this boy and reject him now. She shook her head, the light blue gauze in her hair falling off slightly. She attempted to rescue it when she regained her voice. "I'm sorry, Makibi-kun, but I really don't think it's a good idea."

He nodded slowly, apparently a little put off from Ruri's declination. "Oh, it's all right, Your Highness. Thank you for being so kind and honest about it. The boy near skittered away, as if he was frightened. Ruri couldn't help but notice that he now asked a small, pale girl dressed in a light pink dress. As the girl nodded and allowed herself to be led to a less conspicuous part of the room, Ruri noticed that it was Lapis herself, Hari's partner on the Gardenia.

Ruri felt something of a blush crawl over her cheeks. He really did fancy her somewhat, for there was no other reason for him to ask her to dance first, before someone he knew better. Lapis, who insisted that Ruri was old news, was old news to the boy that also shared their gift. It was rather sweet.

"Ruri, you're an idiot," she whispered to herself. "He's five years younger than you. Not to mention that you're not supposed to care, remember?" At this thought, Ruri's blush disappeared, and her mouth was set once again in the firm line that often graced her face, her eyes reflecting a sense of boredom. Yes, this was who she was meant to be. This was the Ruri that she knew, not this pitiful teenager she was becoming.

~*~

Megumi was, of course, in search of Rumiko, who had disappeared once Inez had made the announcement about Aqua's antics. She didn't find the Emperor of Ninlan, but instead she found the woman that took her position as Natural Laichi when she was recruited to the Nadesico, Mari. After sharing a hug, they headed off in the direction of the punch table, as talking IS thirsty work.

"So what have you been doing Mari? After all, it's rather obvious what I've been doing," began Megumi, sipping from her cup. Mari shook her head, patting Megumi's arm. "No, you're wrong, I have no idea what you've been up to."

Megumi shrugged. "Oh, it's the usual things. Being the in-between for Rumiko with the Earth government about bringing in better technology, listening to him be boring and rant about some Pentakami thing or another, learn how to use my abilities better, argue with Rumiko about why he refuses to wear socks. You know, the usual."

Mari laughed. "Sometimes even people on Earth have to wonder why the hell he's Emperor!" Megumi nodded, smiling. "But hey, that's just how the Ninlandish monarchy goes. But you tend to forget that's he's supposed to be running a planet sometimes. In fact, have you seen him? I can't find him for anything-" Megumi was interrupted by a shout of English in a slightly deep, rather wispy voice. "Why in the five hells was she invited in the first place, Notsumote?!?"

Mari smirked and jerked a thumb behind her, which is where the commotion was coming from. "I'm assuming that's him right there, ne?" Megumi rubbed her temples, frustrated. "Yes… And then there are times that make me wonder why Emperor's Consort is seen as such a lowly thing to be, especially when I'm the one that gives his speeches and talks to people for him." Mari shrugged. "So goes the life of a former voice actress."

Megumi nodded, and changed the subject. "So how goes the life of a current voice actress, Mari?" Mari sighed. "I don't know… I took back the Laichi part, but for some reason it just doesn't compare to the Gardenia job. I mean, with the war over I figured the Gardenia thing would be easy and boring, but it was just the opposite in comparison to being just a regular voice actress. But I suppose you know how that goes, huh?" Megumi nodded, understanding. "Yeah, being a Communications Officer never goes out of your blood once you've tasted it. That's half the reason I came back to the Nadesico when we mutinied, you know?"

Mari was nodding when they both had to jump back, as Goat, causing Megumi to sigh once again, was carrying off Rumiko. She called out, "Don't hurt him too much! I'm the one that has to take him home, you know!" Mari rolled her eyes. "No wonder he's so much like Nadesico crew. I don't see how you could have lived with these hooligans for so long, Meg," commented she, glancing at Gai annoying Akito to figure out what was wrong, while Hikaru was dancing by herself. Megumi shrugged, a smile forming on her face. "I guess I just go used to them. But what about the hooligans on your own ship? How'd you cope with them?"

"Lots of coffee and violent movies to inspire. Especially when it came to Saburota." Megumi giggled. "You know he wants you right? I could tell when I saw him come in."

Mari rolled her eyes. "Me and every other female human in the solar system." Megumi sighed. "We used to have a playboy like that on our ship. But he eventually settled down when Cupid whacked him over the head."

"Yeah, I've heard about Akatsuki-san. He was Erina's cousin, after all. But I think Cupid has made Saburota a permanent concussion," answered Mari, hitting herself over the head. Megumi giggled, hitting her arm. "Mari! That was so rude!"

~*~

Ryoko turned around to see Saburota still standing there. "You just don't fucking give up do you?" Saburota raised his hands in defense. "Hey now, don't be whipping out the harsh language. All I did was ask you to dance. I thought it was a nice gesture."

Ryoko crossed her arms. "Oh, I could think of some nice gestures to give you. Many of them are the equivalent of 'Fuck Off'." Saburota shook his head and clutched his chest. "Oh, you wound me, Ryoko. Give me one good reason why I shouldn't dance with you?"

"One? I'll give you five. And no, it's not my fist. One, you're a slug. Two, I have a girlfriend. Three, I only want to dance with my GIRLFRIEND. Four, we'll look ridiculous with us both in tuxes. And five-"

"Stop! Say no more for a moment Ryoko, as I refute some of your statements. I'm not a slug, I'm actually a human being. We could check my anatomy later if you're unsure." He winked, then continued. "Yes, I'm aware you have a girlfriend, but how does that tell me to not dance with you? And you may want to only dance with your girlfriend, but I'm sure your girlfriend right now is off flirting, for fun, with the How Mei Girls." Ryoko growled. She knew that Itsuki was off to show them that she still had high respect for them, even if their fans didn't, but Saburota was probably not too far from the truth. No, she wouldn't let herself think that. Itsuki loved her. Saburota was still rambling, so Ryoko didn't get to voice her outrage just yet. "And it doesn't matter if we're both dancing and wearing practically the same thing. It's not my fault you refused to wear a dress over here, and I've already seen two of your friends. You know, the gay ones? They don't look too ridiculous. Now, what is your fifth reason, Ryoko-chan?"

Nearby onlookers might have said that it was the affectionate tag onto her name that pissed her off. People that were eavesdropping later threatened to trash can the Jovian man. Either way, Ryoko lost her temper, and the poor victim just happened to be the one harassing her. "Who are you to tell me where the hell my girlfriend's loyalties lie? You don't now her, you don't know her at all, you fuckhead! I know her and I know she was devoted enough to not give up when our relationship was at a bumpy point, to not give up when we were both facing something we hadn't before, to welcome me into her fucking life with open arms, and to fucking start BAWLING when she thought she did something to me magically, asshole! I love her and she loves me and my fifth reason is because I'm a Terra-damned fucking LESBIAN!"

Saburota took a few moments to recuperate after the verbal abuse he earned from the tomboy Quakist. Slowly, a smile formed on his lips. He raised a finger to stop whatever Ryoko would have to say that exact moment. "But Ryoko, you're not a lesbian. You're only part, remember?" He was answered by a socked gut.

~*~

Hikaru stomped over, still carrying her shoes, when Uribatake and his wife finally did arrive. She crossed her arms and glared at her best male friend. "You asshole, what the hell took you so long to get here? You missed a lot of good shit, man!" Uribatake shrugged. "I don't know, we just read the invitation wrong I guess. And what do you mean, good shit? What the hell happened?"

Hikaru waved her hand, as if brushing the topic away for a moment. "I'll tell you in a second, but first of all I'd like to apologize, Ayuko-san, for being so rude." She bowed suddenly. "I am amino Hikaru, one of… Seiya… yeah Seiya! Seiya's friends. Sorry, forgot for a second what his real name is, as I just call him Uri-P and all." She grinned, scratching the back of her head in embarrassment. Uribatake hit her on the back. "I thought you knew what my name was!" Hikaru stuck her tongue out at him. "Yeah, but if I don't use it…"

Ayuko could not help but laugh. "Oh my, now this is amusing. Well, Amano-san, you already know who I am, I suppose. Uribatake Ayuko, soon-to-be once again Shugemitsu Ayuko." She bowed as well, and Hikaru nodded. "So I'm assuming everything is going as you guys want it to?"

"Yep, and it's just a matter of time before all the paperwork gets filed and all, ne?" Uribatake turned to Ayuko. As she nodded, he realized that he was supposed to be the courteous one, and headed off to go get drinks for the three of them. Ayuko finally got to be able to say something in private to Hikaru.

"So… I'm assuming there's some reason why you're so interested in our divorce, Amano-san?" Hikaru sighed. "First of all, it's just Hikaru, please, Ayuko-san. And… I just want what he wants. I'm one of his best friends, you know? And I know he wants out, and I'm assuming you do too, so I'm just hoping that everything goes for the best, you know?"

Ayuko nodded, shocked by what this girl had to say. "So… you're not a factor in pushing it along?" Hikaru's red eyebrows snapped together. "What's the supposed to mean? You thought Uri-P was having an affair with me?" Before Ayuko could answer, Hikaru laughed out loud. "Oh no, it's not like that at all! We're just really good friends with the same interests!" Hikaru bit her lip though, laughter gone from her face. "But sometimes… I wonder if he really…"

"I see. So you think he…"

"Yeah!" Hikaru's jaw dropped after her answer. She could tell what was being thought, and it creeped her out a bit. "Wow, Ayuko-san… we're like… bonding. This is weird."

Ayuko smiled. "Yeah… I guess so. That is weird. And here I was telling myself that if I was to find out what woman Seiya suddenly had a crush or whatever on, I'd throttle her. But I think you're rather… different. I can see why-" Ayuko was interrupted by Seiya showing back up with drinks for all three of them. Hikaru rejected hers, and he had already drunken his on the way here. Hikaru glanced at Ayuko, who nodded. Hikaru smiled, then tugged on Seiya's sleeve. "Yo, Uri-P, dance with me, will ya?"

Seiya glanced at his wife, who shooed him away. As they walked away from her Ayuko crossed her arms, smiling into the crowd, watching them. They laughed a few times during their dance, and seemed to just be talking while dancing, not doing much at all. Once in a while Hikaru would hit Seiya's arm or something, but there wasn't any anger or contempt between them. Ayuko sighed. She never was able to understand her husband very well. He just seemed… out there. But when she saw him dancing with the girl from the Nadesico that he was close with, she could see that she got him, understood his oddities as she understood her own. Their similar, yet so different personalities complimented each other perfectly.

Ayuko just… wasn't unique enough, and maybe that was what was bringing them to their knees. But she wasn't sad. They had tried each other out, and it was time to let go and go be who they were and do what they so desire. Ayuko didn't see anything wrong with the scene before her. In fact, her eyes had caught onto another man there, with shoulder length blonde hair. Smiling to herself, she went over to introduce herself and ask the seemingly alone man to dance.

~*~

Queen Notsumote Gwynth of Peaceland had been much the mere observer during the course of the ball thus far. As the person who had come up with the idea and was the final word on all of the aspects of the event, she had to say that, despite setbacks caused only by those attending, the ball was so far a success.

Many things, thought, did not please her as she expected them too. She was not particularly happy about her daughter Ruri refusing to dance, even with one of her kind. However, she just remembered that it was her daughter being the rebellious teenager she was supposed to be, and moved on. She certainly was not pleased to be verbally abused by the Emperor of the planet that was sanctuary to those dirty Jumpers, especially about who made her guest list and who did not. But she was calm once Mr. Hory had come and carried the Emperor of Ninlan off, and she was ready to regain her composure as one of the most important people in the room.

But when she saw exactly what her first son was doing, she could not calm herself. Oh, many would just say he's only dancing with his friend, what's wrong with that? But it was who the friend was that annoyed Gwynth to no end. Shiratori Yukina, a Jovian and a Jumper by default, never minding that she was the sister of a hero in terms of the war. Oh, she invited her, yes, but because she was kind. Not because she wanted her son to be corrupted by a girl of such… unnatural abilities.

Gwynth would not have known that Yukina was a Jumper in the first place if her second son Rachiku had not told her. Yukina wore light blue gloves the entire night, covering all of her hands and any markings on them from view. But Rachiku told his mother that not only was she a Jumper, but Ariko had been in close contact with her since he got off the ship, writing her letters and such. This information did not make the Queen of Peaceland happy. Her daughter and heir may have been a Jumper, and her husband the King may have not had a problem with those who could travel through time and use magic, but she certainly did. She was fine with a world where everyone could not change nature and time, and the information that some people actually could was not making her happy.

Either way, she was not pleased that Ariko was so close to a girl that was of a culture that could ruin her as an anti-Jumper enthusiast, even if her husband opposed her views. She vowed she would do something soon to stop the foolishness that her son was taking part in. Very soon.

~*~

TBC…

~*~

A/N: Okay, that was part one. I haven't written part two of it yet, but trust me, if I did… this would be like ten pages longer. @.@ Be glad I stopped it here. Anyway, next time is part two, and there will be stuff going DOWN for that one. Big stuff. Stuff you won't soon forget. Anyway, you know the drill. Feedback is our friend and all! Ciao! 


	10. Peaceland Ball, part two

A/N: Okay, some things got assumed that, you know, aren't right. That's okay, this one may straighten some things out. This… is part two. Haha. Oh yeah. I can smell it. Anyway, questions and concerns… there won't be any bloody death for least a bit… And, um… haha, things are going DOWN. Hehe. Anyway, back on stuff… Yeah, assumptions are bad and Aqua's really fun to play with! ^^ Now, for recap. That behind you would be the Peaceland Ball part one, including random yelling and other things. This time, it's part two, and things, you know the things! They're going down. Oh yeah. ^^ As you can see, I think I'm liking this half of it even than the first. ^^ WHEE! Also, since this was originally going to all be one (though I hadn't had it written at the time) there is no transition, we just jump right in. Okay, let's go.

~*~

Gwynth's observations were not noticed by the son she was criticizing, but rather, his dancing partner. But this was not unusual, as Yukina had become very accustomed to knowing exactly when someone was looking at her, as she got it very often at school. She bit her lip and glanced at the eleven-year-old prince. "Ariko, I think your mom is staring at us."

Ariko rolled his eyes. "It's probably because I didn't tell her that my best friend was a girl that's older than me, and same age as Oneesama. I've started to not care about them staring all the time." Yukina grinned and hit Ariko's arm. "You little sneak, I didn't know I was your best friend! I just knew you liked me!"

"Ow! Well of course you're my best friend, I can't exactly see Omoikane as that, can I? Besides, who else do I write continuous letters to? No one!" He blushed just the same. He had been becoming more capable of talking at ease with people that did not care about his title, but he still was embarrassed by his behavior.

Yukina rolled her eyes. They felt into silence until Yukina moved her hands from their customary positions at his arms to his shoulders. Ariko noticed as her hands moved that they were covered by light blue, fancy gloves that covered only her hands. Thinking back to her letters, he grasped her hands and stopped, causing them to just stand. "Yukina, why are you wearing gloves?" Yukina snatched her hands back and began rubbing them, or rather, just her right one. "I… I didn't know exactly how formal formal was, so I did. Besides, what does it matter?" She tried to go back to dancing with the former apprentice mechanic before he stopped her again.

"That's not why you're wearing them is it? You're hiding your markings, aren't you?" Yukina bit her lip and looked away, not attempting to take her hands back this time. Swallowing, she nodded slowly, feeling tears well up in her eyes. She lifted a gloved hand to wipe them away quickly, muttering, "Damn perfume that girl is wearing… making my eyes water…" She took a deep breath, regaining her confidence. "Yeah, I'm wearing them to hide the fact that I'm a Jumper, is that a problem?"

Ariko scoffed. "Well of course it's a problem! That's part of who you are and what makes you special, you know? You should be proud to do the things you do!" While he was telling her this, he was pulling the laced gloves off her hands and sticking them in an inside pocket of his coat. Once he finished, he let go of her hands. "There."

Yukina instantly covered her right hand, hiding the silver markings on her hand from view. "I have to wear them so people don't know, because you may no know this, but there are a lot of people that hate Jumpers for no damn reason! Magus, it's not like I asked to be a Jumper, I was just born this way!" She turned away, both angry and depressed because what she said was true. Many hated her for what she was and not even knowing her. She vaguely felt Ariko brush out her hair with his fingers, as if to calm her, but it didn't seem to help. What did, however, catch her attention was the feel of lips on her hand, and her right one as well. Looking up, she realized it was Ariko kissing her nanomachine markings, the marks that condemned her so. When he looked her in the face, he smiled. "Well, I really like them and what they give you, Lady Yukina." Yukina glared at him blushing. "What's your problem, Ariko? You dork, I'm not a lady, you and I know that!"

A somewhat evil smile formed on the first Prince of Peaceland's face. "My parents don't know that, do they?" Yukina scoffed. "You're evil, Ariko. Really evil." Ariko shrugged. "I suppose. But don't you think that, at least for tonight, you could be a lady? One that doesn't have to worry what people think about these?" He took her right hand and lifted it up, so she could see the silver glaring at her. Yukina sighed. "Okay, Ariko, I get your point." They fell back into dancing, Yukina occasionally bunching her hands in Ariko's coat. Finally she felt comfortable enough to stop staring at her hands on the shorter boy's shoulders, and to just give in. Eventually she watched Ariko bite his lip and blush. Confused, she tapped his shoulder. "What? What's wrong?"

Ariko leaned forward to whisper in Yukina's ear, "Haruka-san is watching us, Yukina." Yukina was shocked she didn't notice it first, but as she glanced behind her shoulder, lo and behold, Minato waved to her. Yukina glared at her and turned back to Ariko, her nose in the air smugly. "So? Who cares?" Ariko smiled; that was more like the girl from the Nadesico that he knew so well.

~*~

Minato giggled as Yukina ignored her wave with the attitude that she still carried with her, through it all. She didn't expect to hear the deep cough from above her. Glancing over, she realized that it was her former lover, Goat Hory. He crossed his arms. "I can only wonder what kind of trouble can come from them being who they are." Minato smiled evilly, elbowing him in the side. "I thought you didn't care for such frivolous things as digging your fingers in other people's business?"

Goat didn't answer, just continued to stare off into the distance. Minato sighed. He certainly didn't change. "Are you angry with me?"

"No."

Minato rolled her eyes. He didn't change, all right. He was just as impossible as before. She went back to watching both the sister of the Jovian hero and the First Prince of Peaceland dance. After a few moments she heard Goat's voice again. "Why did you tell him yes?"

It took Minato a moment to realize what he meant. Why did she tell Shiratori Tsukumo, Yukina's brother, that she'd marry him while he was on his deathbed? The answer was so easy. "Because I loved him. I was in love with him. Why do you care?" She had to admit, she was being rather cruel, but the question was rude, in her opinion.

Goat actually turned to look at her, glaring at her in a way that caused fear to spark in the back of her mind. There was a reason why he was always Head of Security. "I was under the impression that he was a toy you were using against me."

Minato crossed her arms, and copied Yukina's motion of sticking her nose in the air smugly. "You'd have such a high opinion of yourself, wouldn't you? As if I'm not allowed to fall in love with anyone other than you, ne?" She was silent when she felt one of his hands on her shoulder. "I only thought as such because I believed you were in love with me, not… Shiratori-san." His hand stayed on her shoulder for a few more moments before he pulled it away with a sigh. "I knew you wouldn't listen to me. Just remember that you're not involved in my career anymore." He walked away while Minato still refused to look at him. She clicked her tongue at what she assumed was his arrogance. "As if I'd go crawling back to him. Asshole."

She was not expecting to be answered once again, but by someone new. "I expect that you're perfectly capable of taking care of yourself when it comes to him, are you not?"

Minato turned to see a man with long, dark blue hair, almost cut in the same fashion as Izumi, if not for his somewhat messy bangs. There was something about his face that was familiar, but she couldn't put her finger on it. Furrowing her brow, she addressed him, "Excuse me, but are you talking to me?" At his nod, she bit her lip. "Well, I'm afraid I do not know who you are…"

"I apologize for my rude behavior." He bowed graciously, making her even more nervous than she was a moment ago. "Apparently you do not remember me from the war. My name is Tsukuomi-"

Suddenly, Minato did know him, and finished his name off for him. "Genichiro. Yes, I remember you. You were… Tsukumo's friend." He shook his head. "His friend I was not, but his enemy, the only one who dared to betray him because of anger and foolishness. Please, I apologize for all of the grief I have given you, Haruka-san, because of my temper tantrum."

Minato was confused once again. "I… I'm sorry but I don't understand. What grief have you caused me?"

Genichiro was put off for a moment, but then nodded, bowing his head. "I see. You do not know. I thought did. You see, Haruka-san, I was angry with Tsukumo. My dearest and longest friend, and I willingly… killed him."

Minato's jaw dropped as the words sunk into her head. The man standing before her, that called her a nincompoop so long ago for not knowing the Jupiterian names for their own equipment, was the one behind the gun that fired upon the man she loved. The one that shot and killed Tsukumo. That left Yukina the last of her family and Minato a would-be widow, had they been able to be married. Her fiancée died because of actions of Genichiro. What confused her was not the fact that he was here, but that she was not angry, but very, very numb, as if she had felt the pain of that wound so often, it was easily ignored. She opened her mouth several times in attempts to say something, anything, but words were lost to her in her shock.

Genichiro saw this as complete outrage and shook his head, ashamed beyond the feeling. "I would not have done it if I was not ordered to, but I did it willingly because I felt I had lost him. To you. I thought you had taken my place as his best friend… I don't know why I did it. I never said it was rational. But now I ask of your forgiveness, Haruka-san. I do not deserve it, not at all, but I ask of it to know that I may one day die without knowing that… you've been able to pick yourself back up again." He turned away, not able to face this woman who's future he had ruined with one shot.

Minato took a raged breath. It frightened her that she could not be angry with this man that took her beloved's life from him. She began to wonder if she was ever capable of feeling that again. But somehow she knew that it was just time dulling the pain, not the love she felt for him. She reached up and laid a hand on Genichiro's shoulder, and let it fall to his back. Once he turned to face her once again, she smiled, albeit sadly. "I could not believe that one could be rational as to kill one such as he. But I see that you did not do it regretless. I see that you have great guilt from your actions, and now do not look upon that moment or action as a moment of triumph, but one of sadness, as I do. You may have done the deed, but you grieve just as I. And because of that, I can forgive you." Genichiro glanced into the woman's eyes, whose name he cursed the last time he spoke to his best friend before he killed, no, murdered him. She was speaking nothing but the truth. He looked away, ashamed once again. "I would have told Yukina," he whispered, glanced at her and her constant dance partner, "but I did not want to ruin her night." Minato nodded. "She's had it rough since we've arrived on Earth." A few more moments of silence before Minato looked back at Genichiro. "Tsukuomi-san, would you like to dance?"

"What?!?"

"I just asked you to dance. It's called forgiving and forgetting. Perhaps you've heard of it?" As he began to stammer, she frowned at him. "Are all you Jupiterians so nervous around women? All I did was ask you to dance. Don't you think you can handle that?" Her voice lowered back to her solemn tone. "It's just a dance. He certainly won't mind." Genichiro nodded and offered Minato his arm. She nodded and took it. He bit his lip before clearing his throat. "Haruka-san, I also apologize for calling you a whore and a witch."

Minato blinked. "I didn't know you called me that." Genichiro sighed. "I was a fool, I already said that. Besides, I didn't realize exactly why Tsukumo loved you. But I can see that you really are a beautiful woman, inside and out."

"Why, thank you, Genichiro-san. Just call me Minato, if you please."

~*~

Omoikane, Royal Informant Extraordinaire, had no trouble finding Ruri, though he did not know why he hadn't decided to approach her until now. Other than that Hari boy, there was no reason to wait. But Omoikane did anyway, until he found Ruri looking positively bored at people watching. He walked up to where Ruri was seated at one of the banquet tables, facing where the many people there were dancing. He tapped Ruri on the shoulder to get her attention. He smiled at her. "Ruri-sama, you've been sitting all night! Don't you want to dance?"

Ruri looked up to see her best friend standing next to her. She felt the corners of her mouth turn up as he offered his hand. She took it, standing as best she could on her uncomfortable shoes. "Certainly, Omoikane." Once she had led Omoikane away from the table and begun dancing with her robot, she realized that she had easily accepted Omoikane's invitation to dance, but turned down Hari's without too much thinking. As she saw the boy she was thinking of and watched the shock appear on his face, she looked down, ashamed. But she knew Omoikane longer, and Hari made her feel uncomfortable with all of his respect for her. While Omoikane may continuously name her as "Ruri-sama", he did it only because she was his superior as his controller.

She turned them around so that she couldn't see Hari and the hurt she knew she caused on his face. Omoikane could however. His eyes narrowed at the sight of the boy who obviously was becoming a rival. He could feel with Ruri's hold on him with her mind that he had somehow caused her a bit of grief. After asking of their connection and getting permission, Omoikane went through Ruri's recent thoughts over the last minute or so. Once he discovered that she had turned him down, but not Omoikane, he felt himself fill with joy. But it was the anguish Ruri felt over this development that made him glare even harder at the male Electronic Fairy. He put his mouth right next to Ruri's ear, so she could hear what he had to say. "Ruri-sama… don't worry about him. He's just a stupid boy. He could never love you like I do." He could not help himself from saying that, or from kissing her cheek softly and quickly, before Ruri could stop him from doing so. Once they were face to face again, Ruri glared at him. "Omoikane…"

"I know. I'm sorry, Ruri-sama." Ruri nodded. She knew that it was agony for him to be this close to her and feel so connected to her, as they were communicating on both a verbal and digital level, and not do something. After all, it was common knowledge to the Princess of Peaceland that her robot loved her.

~*~

Yurika was standing alone, which was odd considering that the woman was getting propositioned all over the place to dance. But now, thoughts of her first dance of the night had returned to her, and she just wanted to sit and think.

Everything she told Akito was true, at least in her eyes. She had grown up since Akatsuki died. She no longer was the air headed idiot everyone knew her to be. She was capable of being serious without being depressing. She knew what kind of a person she was meant to be, and that her former self made her sick, looking back. 'How could I have been so stupid and idiotic? No wonder a lot of people called me dumb.'

But Akito hadn't made the steps she had yet. Maybe she grew up faster than she was meant to, but it was Akito's slowness to follow her that angered her the most. It was because he was still living in his own world, without realizing that there was more to life than what was around him. That was why he didn't want to be her friend, because he still figured that Yurika was interested in him romantically, when she really wasn't. She just wanted to be able to look at her former boyfriend as her friend. He just needed to realize that the world did not revolve around him.

As she sat contemplating the Martian cook, he and his boyfriend, dancing and in their own bubble, traveled into her vision. No longer staring off into space, she watched them, trying to see if she could find some of the answers about Akito that she was searching for.

They were dancing much closer than many of the others around them, almost completely molding each other's bodies on the other's. Akito was resting his head on Gai's shoulder. A small smile formed on his face as they moved so slowly, one couldn't tell they were moving at all, if they were not watching them as Yurika was. She saw a glance of Gai's face as well, somehow between Akito's hair and his own almost wild mane. He too had a smile of uncontained joy, his eyes closed in complete comfort, as if he felt completely at home on the floor with his smaller, yet older lover.

Yurika bit her lip, feeling a little guilty for watching them in such an intimate moment. But one thing boggled her. "How can they be so happy just to be together?" Akito had never looked that happy while he was with her, so happy that he didn't even need to show it. As she thought about it, she didn't think she had ever been that happy in a relationship. Not even with Akatsuki. She was so insistent that she most likely loved him, but she was always so much more paranoid about him rather than really letting herself love him. Maybe there was more to their relationship than just love. Maybe there was more trust involved than Yurika was ready to admit.

A hand on Yurika's bare shoulder startled her, and she turned quickly to figure out who touched her. Jun snatched his hand back; a little afraid at the face Yurika gave him. But it softened and she sighed. "Hey, Jun, what's up?"

Jun glanced around his best female friend's face, trying to find the anger at her thoughts being interrupted again, wondering how it could have ran away so easily. When he couldn't find it, he shrugged. "I was just going to ask you if you'd like to dance, Yurika. I didn't get a chance to ask you yet and all, you know."

Yurika sighed again. Glancing back at Akito and Gai, she realized she had depressed herself. No one she had been with, ever, had ever been happy with her in such a way. Not even her former fiancée before her. She turned back to Jun and shook her head. "Sorry Jun. I'm still kinda tired from dancing all night in these awful shoes, and I got things on my mind. I just want to be alone, okay?" Jun nodded, understanding. "Okay, but you know where I'll be hanging around if you change your mind or if you want to talk, okay?" He walked away, from the woman he claimed was his love and obsession, cursing himself for being such an idiot, and a single one at that.

Once he reached their little area near the men's bathroom, he found Hikaru without an Uribatake, which was amazing. "Oh, so you ditched the cling-on idea?"

"Yeah, I wanted him to be alone with his wife for a while. I know they're together all the time, but that'll be changing soon, so maybe some transition would be good, ne?" But the redhead still looked quite bored, drinking from her paper cup. Jun looked over his options and sighed, dejected. "Hey, Hikaru, I'm sick of sitting around. Dance with me out of pity, please?" Hikaru giggled, setting her cup on the table next to them. "Out of pity you say? Oh, well then I can't refuse!" She grabbed his hand and led him away, giggling the entire time.

~*~

Gai and Akito weren't the only couple that resided in Yamada Manor that was dancing. However, because of Itsuki's insane dress, Ryoko was left dancing with her just as everyone else was, and not just hugging her, but with her hands at her waist. Ryoko was trying hard to enjoy herself as she danced with the woman she loved, but Saburota's words from earlier that night plagued her. As she looked at Itsuki's face, all she could hear was Saburota telling her about the Music Mage flirting with the How Mei Girls, and seeing her flirt with Aqua to find out if she had put paralyzing powder in the food. Ryoko know that she was devoted to this relationship. It was the best that had happened to her. But there was something that made her doubt Itsuki's devotion and made her wonder if the girl didn't already have a string of side girlfriends, all of them wanting Itsuki to break up with Ryoko so that they could have the beautiful musician and tactician.

It also didn't help that Ryoko was certain that she could hear whispers all around them. Things about Jumpers, things about lesbians, things even about Ryoko being the fuck of the week for yet another rich, young business leader. All derogatory and pulling at Ryoko until she felt that she was going to scream.

Ryoko let go of Itsuki and walked quickly through the crowd alone, going over to the opposite side of the room and yanking a chair out from under a table, sitting down and bunching her hands in her two-colored hair. It took Itsuki a few moments to catch up in her massive dress, but catch up she did, pulling out another chair and facing the upset Ryoko in confusion. "Ryoko, what's the matter? I thought you were having fun."

Ryoko sat up and rubbed at her eyes, dispelling any tears there that may have formed. "I don't know, I'm just being dumb and letting that asshole get to me." Itsuki's purple eyebrows snapped together as she realized who "that asshole" was. "Takasugi-san? What did he say? I swear to Magus-"

"No, Itsuki, don't. He just… He just pointed out to me exactly how flirtatious you are with other women… the How Mei Girls, Aqua Crimson…" Itsuki hit herself on the forehead. "I should have seen this coming, especially since Akito and Jiro had a little spat about this exact same thing earlier. Ryoko, look at me. Look at me, dammit!" Once Ryoko did, Itsuki clasped her gloved hand in Ryoko's bare, interlocking their fingers and leaning in, kissing Ryoko for a full minute. Once she pulled away, she narrowed her eyes at her lover. "Ryoko, I love you. I don't love the How Mei Girls, I just wanted to give them some musician ideas. I don't love Aqua, I just wanted to make sure she didn't do anything stupid, which of course she did. I may flirt and generally make it seem like I'm very available, but I am in love with you, not any of those other people. To tell you the truth, I find it very funny when I flirt and then they realize that I'm already with you. It's great to watch them fall into the same trap every other person since we've been together has done. But I never kiss them, or have sex with them, or even hug them. That is all reserved for you, Ryoko, because you're the woman I love." Itsuki scooted her chair closer and leaned over to hug Ryoko, her dress getting in the way so she had to hug Ryoko around the waist, resting her head on the tomboy's breasts. "And that can't be it, is it, my sweet?"

Ryoko shook her head, her hand brushing across Itsuki's pile of pinned curls, feeling their stiffness from her hairspray. "No. It's just that… I never thought there would be so many people that would talk about us so rudely." Itsuki smiled. "Oh, you mean those people that were whispering? I found that amusing." Ryoko started, shocked by what Itsuki just said, and lifted her bare shoulders so she could see her. "What?"

Itsuki shrugged. "I find it amusing. I always have. In fact, half the fun is listening to the people screech 'oh my GOD those are both GIRLS!' You just get used to it and find humor in it." Itsuki hit Ryoko's arm. "If they get to you, just remember. They may be self-righteous pig heads, but we've still got this," she lifted their hands up, fingers still intertwined, "and they don't. When it all comes down to it, it doesn't matter at home, and that's what matters, ne?"

Ryoko nodded, rejuvenated by what Itsuki was saying. Itsuki nodded back, and began dragging her lover back onto the floor. "Let's get back to that dancing thing, ne, Ryoko-chan?"

~*~

Jun was certainly not the first person to approach Yurika to dance, nor was he the last. But not many, save for a few, expected the next person that went over and sat next to the former captain of the Nadesico. "Hello, Yurika. You look a bit down. Is there something wrong?"

Yurika glanced up at the brown-clad Erina. She shook her head. "No, I just want to be alone. I've not been having the greatest night, that's all. Don't worry about it. Yurika smiled at her employer, but there was a sense of sadness behind it, causing Erina to be skeptical. She grasped the Martian's hand and stood, attempting with little care to pull Yurika to her feet. "Well, you could always dance with me and tell me what's wrong. I may be the one that gives you your money, but that doesn't mean we can't put our previous disagreements behind us with the war they spawned from." Yurika blushed a bit as she remembered their never-ending arguments over whether Yurika had the right mindset for her position, being so focused on individual things and not the big picture. Yurika shook her head again. "No, Erina, I've been dancing all night. I don't want to anymore. And… I want to think."

Despite Yurika's protests, Erina pushed on. "Yurika, you're unhappy. Dancing would cheer you up. Besides, I have some things to tell you, and this is the best time to." When she saw Yurika prepare to shake her head again, Erina did pull her up to her feet with newfound strength. "Yurika, I really must insist." Yurika sighed and nodded, letting herself be led away by Erina. What she had to say must have been very important.

Once they had begun dancing however, Erina was silent, and Yurika felt a little more than uncomfortable. The realization dawned on her that she was dancing with a woman. A woman. And with Yurika being so insistent that she was the only straight Martian left, this was a large blow against her. All the more reason to get Erina to speak up faster. "Um, Erina… what is it that you wanted to tell me?"

"I told Kaguya to get lost." Yurika's eyes widened. But then, as she thought about it, it made sense. "Yeah, I figured. She was wishing for your death on the shuttle, now that I think about. I thought it was just an argument or something, though. You really did dump her?" Erina nodded. Yurika fell silent and back into the act of dancing. But then her brain began to work once again and she began to wonder why that was so important for Erina to tell her. It would have eventually hit her ears anyway.

"Is there anything else, Erina? I mean, that doesn't seem like 'I have to talk to you in private' and all, you know?"

Erina regarded the girl that was, remarkably, older than her by a few weeks. "There was a reason I left her. I was finished with her. It was time to move on. Move on to more… interesting people." By this time, Yurika saw the rather lustful gaze Erina was giving her and the hand at her hip that traveled more south. Yurika looked away. "Erina, don't do this. You know I don't like women."

"You're dancing with me here, aren't you?" Yurika bit her lip. Erina had a point, but she wasn't thinking. Or was she? She didn't know! Erina took Yurika's indecision and used it for herself, her other hand traveling up and gripping Yurika's chin, turning the Martian girl's face to her own. "Yurika, you've had no luck with the less-than-aggressive men, and the only true one you've been with is dead. How are you to know exactly all that you require in a person? Judging by choices and successes in previous relationships, the only real requirement is that they are capable of overpowering you, dominating you like men in love stories do." Erina narrowed her eyes. "I can do all of that and more for you, Yurika. I can give you all that you want, and you know it."

And know it Yurika did. Despite Erina's anatomy, there was something about being unable to escape from her clutches that made Yurika's breath shorten, and made her forget exactly why she was resisting just moments earlier. And as Erina's lips fell hard onto hers, Yurika had flashbacks of the rough, manhandling that she so loved from Akatsuki, and could not believe that it lived also in this woman who's arms she was melting into, who's hair she was fingering, who's lips she was kissing as if it was just another one of her boyfriends.

What they did not account for were witnesses. Jun, who had been turned down by Yurika to dance, let alone even talk, ran off to hide in the bathroom, knowing that he was most likely going to burst into tears. Knowing exactly what the fire mage was doing, Akito left his lover's side to chase after him, cursing Yurika's name for her foolishness when she was so adamant that she had grown up. Inez, in another section of the room, growled low under her breath as she gripped Izumi's arm with white knuckles, dragging the blue-haired woman to another part of the room where they could no longer see the action that had caused several anguish.

Another that they did not account for was Kaguya. As they finally separated and Yurika felt herself in a daze, she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned to see the purple-haired woman from her childhood, anger flaming in her eyes, but a cool and collected smile on her face. "Congratulations, Rika-chan. I had no idea you were the girl Erina left me for." There was a hint of contempt in her voice, but as she gave Yurika a slight hug, Yurika felt something twinge inside her. What it was other than guilt, she had no idea, but it was passing, and she did not feel it after Kaguya let go, glared at Erina, and walked away with her nose in the air. Yurika looked back in shame, knowing that this was possibly one of the few times she was a real factor in breaking up a relationship. Erina laid a hand on Yurika's shoulder, then hugged her from behind. "Do not worry about her, Yurika. She just didn't realize that she was useful for her time, but nothing more. I told her that we were not destined and that I did not love her, but she obviously is too delusional. She can't accept that I may feel something for her friend when she was a child. Erina kissed Yurika's cheek and Yurika felt her eyelids droop, leaning against Erina's body behind her. Perhaps there was something to this lesbian thing that she was just catching on to, something that caused just about everyone she knew to practice it.

~*~

Akito was barely in the door of the bathroom before he saw Jun bent over a sink, washing his obviously red face and trying to wipe the water out of his eyes at the same time. The room was also near unbearably hot, as the room often did whenever Jun was upset. Akito took off his jacket and loosing his tie, trying to not melt in the sauna Jun had created. Then he walked over to the sink Jun was standing at and laid a hand on Jun's shoulder. His hand felt like it was n a street in the summertime, but he kept it there, and Jun's quickly turned around to cling to the only person he could call his best friend, sobbing into Akito's white dress shirt. Akito felt some of the heat in the room drift away as he tapped into some of his own magic, making it a little bit colder in the room. He patted Jun's back until the blue-haired man's sobs slowed and he finally let go of the Martian cook. He turned back to the sink to clean himself up as Akito hopped onto the counter. "Jun, this isn't the end. Of all people, I think we both know her best, and if I know anything, Yurika always has NO luck when it comes to relationships, remember? She can't take the commitment and work they require. You know?"

Jun squeezed his eyes closed as he attempted to speak. "Akito, you're basing a lot of assumptions on one thing. She… she doesn't have good luck with… with men, Akito!" He began shouting, throwing his pile of tissues and paper towels on the floor and kicking them. "With men, Akito! She has no luck with men! That's a total different thing from a woman!" He fell down to his knees and rested his head on the counter, folding his arms.

Akito was about to wonder if Jun had started crying again when an almost inaudible voice came. "Akito… I thought I was doing so well. When she was with you, I may have cursed your name and stuff, but I just accepted it and left it alone. I didn't get too upset or angry. When she was… when she was with Akatsuki, I got angry, but I didn't do anything. I… I know I killed him, but… I guess I couldn't take it anymore. But this time… I think she actually did break my heart, Akito. She fucking ripped it in two and threw it out the window, and now she has nothing to do but laugh about it." Jun lifted his head from the counter and curled himself into a fetal ball, hugging his knees. He looked up at Akito, and the Martian thought he was going to die because of the helplessness on Jun's face. "She broke me, Akito. She really did."

~*~

Izumi eventually had to rip her arm out of Inez's grip to get her to stop. She crossed her arms, frowning slightly. "I knew it. You're really still in love with her, aren't you? I should have seen it. You say you love me but you love her too. How can you be in love with two people at once?"

Inez turned her back to Izumi. "I don't know. I absolutely don't know. I just do. I love her. She was the longest relationship I've ever had, my best friend, and my very first. How am I not supposed to love her, even if I do love you as well? I love you because you're just perfect, you are. But… I can't decide Izumi. I know I'm supposed to decide, but I just CAN'T. I'm Inez Fressange, Explanation Lady, not Decision Lady. It's not my job, it's not in my blood to make decisions like that!"

Izumi sighed, running her hand through her bangs, making her hidden eyes visible for just a moment. "Inez, you're going to have to make that choice. I know you don't think you can, but you're going to have to. That's just the way it's got to be. Her… or me." Izumi turned and walked away, but to the corner where her friends were sitting, leaving Inez by herself.

Inez set her mouth into a firm line. She was not going to get upset in public. She just… was going to have to make a decision, like Izumi said. But she just didn't know how, or which woman she loved more.

~*~

Thanks to many of the Nadesico's crew, but mainly Minato and Megumi, the details about Yurika and Erina were well known long before the end of the night. It was just that much more proof of exactly how much things didn't change. But one thing was obvious, as Rumiko climbed the steps up the stage and hushed everyone, many were surprised and were expecting just about anything to happen after such an odd action such as Yurika hooking up with Erina.

Rumiko fixed the microphone to his height and made sure it was in working order, as technology was still scarce on his home planet and he wasn't the one that did public speeches anyway. But he finally did start to talk. "Ahem, can everyone hear me? Okay, good. I'd like to say that I am appalled by the behavior of everyone that was not on the Nadesico. I'd expect this kind of insanity from them, but not each and every single one of you, particularly you, Miss Crimson. But I suppose this is Earth, is it not?" He stopped and cleared his throat. "I admit this is not exactly the most… elegant thing I've done, nor is it the most mannerly, but please keep in mind that I've wanted to do this for some time now and that I'm not very used to talking in front of people. That job is usually reserved for my consort, Megan Rainerd, if she'd like to join me up here." He motioned for her to come onto the stage, and she had to shake her head as Minato and Mari pushed her up towards the stage. She had no idea what the hell Rumiko thought he was doing, honestly.

But she finally did ascend the stairs, lifting up her purple skirts and giving Rumiko an evil look that promised that he was not going to be sleeping with her that night. He ignored her glare and took her hands in his. "Meg, you've learned to put up with a lot from me, and for that I am highly thankful. I don't know how I could ever be as effective of an emperor if I didn't have you to help me integrate modern science into our culture and to talk to people when I cannot. I honestly don't know what I would do without you, so I have to thank you and wish that you will continue in the best way I can think of." One of her hands slid from his grasp as he knelt down on both knees before her. Many that realized what he was about to do started hooting and howling, shouting words of encouragement to the Copy Mage on stage. It got so bad that he had to grab the microphone and tell everyone to be quiet.

After replacing the microphone and reassuming his position, he reached into a deep pocket in his pants and pulled out a small box. Megumi's jaw dropped and she couldn't say anything as Rumiko opened it up to show, not a diamond as one would expect, but a perfect onyx set in a silver ring. "Megan Rainerd, would you be able to put up with me and allow me to depend on you as I have become far too used to? Would you please accept my hand in marriage and become my empress?"

Silence met Rumiko's question, as many were hanging on it, wanting, willing Megumi to say yes. Megumi looked into Rumiko's amber eyes and thought back. She was so… willing to give herself to him, in every way when she gave up the Nadesico for Ninlan. She had been nothing more than Emperor's Consort for too long, but now he was raising her up to be his exact equal, in accordance to Ninlandish tradition. She was to be Empress of Ninlan. But most of all on her mind, she was to be bonded to Rumiko, and he will be bonded to her in a way that would go beyond just common laws. Was she ready to accept that?

But they were already bonded. They had dreamed of each other when it came time for fate to play itself out. They were fated in terms of the Pentakami, were the not? Without a second thought, Megumi smiled, making her freckles stand out in a way that she knew Rumiko loved. "Absolutely, Rumiko. I will accept your offer and become your empress. Yes, I will marry you."

Rumiko stood immediately and gripped Megumi into a tight hug, forgetting that he was supposed to put the ring on her finger in his pure joy. He did not let go of her for almost a minute, in which most of the room had exploded into cheers. He whispered into her purple hair and his black, as they had become mixed in the sloppy hug, "Magus, Gods, I love you, Meg. I love you. I really do." Megumi nodded. "I know."

So, happy and sad, the ball continued on into the night, until it finally disbanded and the guests retired into their hotel rooms in one of the world's biggest tourist attractions.

~*~

TBC…

~*~

A/N: WOO-HOO! SHIT WENT DOWN! YES! Okay, I'm fine. I just am really really happy now. ^^ That was great! Yeah, I'm being arrogant. W00t! ^^ Yeah, that was very… intense. I think achieved trance a couple times in that. But um… next time. Good god I have no idea. ^^ Well, I expect just a flyby of some of the time and people, then we get into some more random things like before, only the plot will be beginning to show it's face. Okay, so, I'm loving this chapter, but we know I like your opinion as well! I'm going to go now and jump around in happiness. ^^ Later!


	11. Afterwards

A/N: *sigh* Okay, here we go. I'm not really confident about this one to follow the one before, which I thought personally was great, but let's try anyway. Okay, since there wasn't anything that I need to address, at least by what I could tell, let's move on to recap. Okay, last time, shit went down. Specifically, Minato and Genichiro set aside past events, general relationship things between those we already knew of, and Yurika hooked up with Erina, those who saw and were cut by this, and Rumiko proposed to Megumi. Yes, that's a lot of stuff. But after such a pair of eventful chapters, it's time to drag it down for some, and drag it up even more for others. Yes, that did make sense. Okay, so this time we got a flyby, various things, and some stuff that adds even more furniture to the stage. All righty, let's get moving, eh?

~*~

Leaving Peaceland the day after the ball went off without a hitch for all of those going back to their respective planets, countries, and cities. It was odd to go back to their lives of separation after being all together, even if only for one night, but slowly things fell back into their mundane, worn-down paths. The next few weeks passed without much incident, at least not many that were sudden, but gradual, things that would have happened in time anyway.

Queen Gwynth, in the week following the celebration of peace, demanded that Ariko have no more contact with Yukina. Also, she was continuously rude to Ruri, which made her wonder about what exactly her mother was trying to accomplish. King Fredrick realized quickly what it was, as Gwynth never agreed with his support of the Jumper culture, and helped Ariko continue to call and write to Yukina, not to mention letting Ruri have as much access to her own robot, that her mother wanted to restrict her from, as she liked. This began several arguments that rocked the balance that held Peace Castle together.

On Ninlan, things fell back to business as usual for Rumiko and his fiancée. Those that often looked down on Megumi when all she was was Emperor's Consort now treated her with ample respect, as if she had married Rumiko already. It made her treasure the power that the ring on her finger held. She also began studying Pentakami marriage traditions and decided that sometime in the future she'd like to get her dress on Earth, and visit with Minato some more, as the contact with her best friend made her want to talk to her and see her more.

Back in Japan, Minato found that she didn't have to worry about moving Yukina to another school, as Yukina had thrown out her gloves and began to not care about those who whispers behind her back, though one thing did worry Minato. Some people in school were starting to cause fights with Yukina and say they were provoked, getting them off and Yukina punished. Yukina always said there was nothing wrong in school, but she always had new bruises in new places that made Minato wonder about her safety there.

At work, things started to actually get busy as the final drafts for the first model of the new project were finished, and Uribatake was called in to help with assembly and manufacture of the first prototype of their new Aestivalis frame. Uribatake, at the same time, finally did get divorced from his wife, but Ayuko and Genji were still staying there until Ayuko could get a proper job and residence in an apartment.

Yamada Manor was just the way it had been since the arrival of nearly all of the Nadesico's mages and pilots. With the celebration of Ryoko and Izumi's twenty-first birthdays, and Jun's twenty-third birthday as well, those residing in the house realized that both Itsuki and Gai's birthdays were lost in the Jump from Ninlan, and they too were observed. Meanwhile, Akito has been realizing the trouble Ryoko and Hikaru had with Izumi after her two fiancées died, as Jun barely ever left his little section of the house, nor did he answer to anyone except the Martian, which disconcerted him to no end.

In another part of the country, things were not settled over Nergal Heavy Industries Headquarters. Angry because of Erina's choice, Kaguya left the Boson Jump Experiment project, but for some reason was still usually found around the compound, and usually by Yurika. Their fighting spirit from when they were children showed it's face once again, and Goat had been called far too many times to break up the verbal and physical fights between the two Martians, making Erina wonder if she should restrict Kaguya from the building, even if Asuka and Nergal were still business partners. But it was the physical fights that made Erina wonder exactly how far Kaguya would go to get her back, even though she had made it very clear that it was over.

Inez found herself near obsessing over her and Izumi's spat. She kept writing and calling, but was always answered with the query of "have you chosen yet?". Inez just could not choose between her lover and the one she loved, because she was sure that she loved them equally. But she was with Izumi, and Erina was with Yurika, so shouldn't she just choose Izumi?

That was the argument that Inez's logical side of her brain kept giving her, but there was something from the small side of Inez's brain, her emotional side, that told her otherwise. She had bonds to Erina, and she had to do everything in her power to keep those bonds alive.

All of it was just so confusing. Inez sat down at her desk and bunched her blonde hair in her hands, trying to think. It all came down to one thing: Izumi, the beautiful, intelligent water mage from Satsuki Midori, with almost nothing standing before her for her future, or Erina, the ambitious, calculating woman of equal brilliance, only her ruthlessness in her blood fueling her to be cruel? They both were everything Inez wanted, but how could she choose between them?

This was the argument that Inez kept coming to each and every time she had this fight with herself. It was an answerless question that never seemed to work itself out, no matter how much Inez thought about it. In frustration, she picked up the remote for her small television and turned it on, flipping channels. Designing show, game show, action movie, news… She stopped at news for a few moments, listening to the never-ending stories about efforts from Anti-Jumper organizations before turning the television off altogether. Those kinds of stories only reminded her about her choice.

Needless to say, Inez was worrying herself into a wreck, and there was nothing anyone could do about it until she made her choice.

~*~

Foosh. Another paper in place. Foosh. Another. Foosh.

And so, Jun had decided a rather good way to deal with his anger and hopelessness. Burning each and every single one of his poems about Yurika individually. One paper out of the shoebox and onto the desk, and with a flick of his wrist it erupted in flames, and when he was sure it was nothing but ashes, he waved his fingers, dispelling his fire so it wouldn't burn the desk as he dug out yet another paper from his shoebox. The system worked so well that he didn't even realize that Izumi had entered the room. It was when his next kindling was doused in water from nowhere that he looked up and noticed that she was there. Narrowing his reddened eyes at her, he asked curtly, "What do you want, Izumi?"

Izumi sat on the arm of one of the couches in Jun's living room. "Just came to check on you, especially since what with Akito's told us about how you've been behaving. I expected to see you with razor blades to your wrists."

Jun snorted, turning back to the desk and placing another piece of paper on the surface. "Oh, is that what you were looking for? Well, you should have come see me last week then." Izumi narrowed her crimson eyes in scrutiny of this man that seems so much like her, back then. "You're not serious."

Jun bowed and shook his head, his hands continuing the process without him thinking. "No. We all know I'm too fucking wussy to even attempt it. I've just holed myself in here, that's all. Doing this sometimes when it gets bad. Crying my ass off because not worth anything else."

Izumi stood and took a piece of paper out of his shoebox, reading the title of it in rather sketchy, artistic writing. "Midnight Seashore?" Before she could actually read any of it, Jun snatched it out of her hands and put it on top of the other paper he set on the desk, setting them both aflame. Izumi watched this action in anger for a moment, but then realized it was better than him trying to hurt himself or other people, and began helping him get the papers out of the shoebox. "So what are these things?"

"Poems. Stupid poems I wrote about her." Izumi nodded, glancing over some of them quickly as she handed them off. "From what I can see, they're pretty good."

Jun snorted. "Whatever." Another little bonfire. Izumi narrowed her eyes again. "You know, Akito's not the only one you can talk to. I know what it's like, Junny." The fire died out, with the paper on the desk barely singed. Jun looked at it and sighed, putting it back in the shoebox and closing it. "I know, you've had it worse. I'll stop now."

Izumi grabbed onto the sleeve of Jun's yellow-and-white sweatshirt. "Now wait just a damn minute. I know where you're going with that. 'Oh, that's right, Izumi's had it worse than me, so I have no right to be upset.' Well that's bullshit, Jun! You have every right to be upset. Yurika completely and totally ignored the fact that you exist to go hook up with some rich fucking WHORE when she could have you, who's so much better! I'd be pretty pissed off and depressed too!"

This outburst from Izumi sparked Jun all over again, and he looked away. "I'm sorry. I just…" He fell down to his knees, not crying but just staring at the floor. "I just don't know what else to do…"

Izumi sighed and patted his head. "this is where you pick up some hobby and start focusing on that instead of what's in front of you. Trust me, I've seen Hikaru do it all the time, and I've tended to do it myself, with the puns and all. But I suppose for as long as you have paper in that box," she motioned to the lonely shoebox on the floor, "you'll have an outlet. Pyromania is all right as long as you don't hurt anything too badly or anyone at all. But… go visit a video or bookstore sometime, lose yourself in something else. Or, hell, borrow some of Hikaru's disks of anime and watch those. Do something to get your mind off it until you think you're ready to address it."

Jun pulled himself to his feet, not quite so sad anymore. "Will ever be able to address it?"

Izumi shrugged, on her way out of the guesthouse. "I stopped making puns all the time, didn't I?"

~*~

With the return of the How Mei girls to Peaceful Days, Ryoko and Izumi found themselves not quite so needed, and were often sent right back home without worry. Izumi, of course, took this time to bone up on some of her things, and was often seen around the house when she wasn't at Peaceful Days carrying either her guitar or ukulele. Ryoko, on the other hand, didn't have much to work with. She often found sitting around in the parlor watching TV or in Itsuki's and her bedroom, sleeping.

But today there didn't seem to be anything on TV other than bad soap operas, craft shows, and bad lawyer dramas, so she decided to play a one-player game, and tell Hikaru, if she was ever to ask to play with her, to go to hell. As she began to play the run-around-and-shoot-people game, she began to focus only on the game and nothing else, just wondering around, picking up ammo, and shooting everything that didn't put its gun down at the sight of her character. She lost track of time, the world around her, and even herself for a moment, as she fell back into the mentality she had for most of the war, that this was her life and this is how she was to go, for this was what she had learned and known.

She started as she felt a hand on her shoulder, tapping it, and turned to rip that person's arm off. She came back to Yamada Manor and saw Hikaru giving her an odd look. "Ryoko, what did you do? You were just gone into that stupid game. I called you like three times!" Ryoko shook her head, running her hand through her green and black hair and shrugged. "I guess I just…"

"Soul Snap? Oh no wonder you disappeared into la-la land. This is, like, right up your alley!" Hikaru picked up the instruction book on the floor and sat on the couch next to Ryoko. As her redheaded friend began thumbing through it, Ryoko began playing again, this time contemplating why exactly this game was right up her alley. There was a lot of action involved, not much depth, but she didn't care, as long as she could kick ass and take names.

But for some reason, it was because of this that made her think back to the Nadesico's Beauty Pageant. She had a breakdown and thought that she wasn't worth anything but as a soldier in a war, no skills other than killing. Playing this game made her wonder how right she may have been, but something else, a new question came into her head. How exactly did she become this way?

Perhaps, after fighting her way through high school, immediately entering a pilot's course groomed her to believe that her future was to be only to fight and be good at it. But that didn't seem right, as Izumi and Hikaru had done the same, but didn't seem to be as brutal as her when it came to battle. So it must have gone back further. Her father?

Even thinking about that asshole made the tomboy growl under her breath. She hated that fucker to no limit. But maybe he was the factor that swung her around. With her spoiling mother long dead, the only role model and authority figure she had was her father, as much as she hated him. Hikaru had her parents, who loved her a lot, and her grandmother, who was hard, but not without reason. Izumi had her mom, who pressured Izumi to do the best she could in many things, all of Izumi's choice. But Ryoko's father was a soldier and in the military.

Maybe, with the entering of a soldier's life so early in her future and with knowing nothing for the future beforehand but a soldier's life is what made her wish for more action in her life, as it seemed like it was all there was to her.

'How depressing,' she thought, finally deciding to turn off the game. When Hikaru saw her do this, she threw down the instruction book for Ryoko's game. "Hey, Ryoko, wanna play Crystalis with me? You know… the bubble game?"

Ryoko turned to tell her to go to hell, as she had planned when she initially began playing, but realized that playing a puzzle game to challenge her brain's speed and recognition, even if she got her ass kicked, would be a good idea, especially with how she had been thinking the past few minutes. She nodded, looking for the disc. "Sure, Hikaru. You ready to murder me?"

"In your sleep!"

~*~

Despite her father's demands, Ruri had been grounded from contact with Omoikane. For what, she had no idea, nor did she care. The only reason she wasn't allowed to connect with him was because Fredrick was not in the country, but in Japan. But if there was one thing Ruri learned on the Nadesico from her own superiors, other than how a stuffed toy could be a good substitute, was that there were rules that were meant to be broken. And this, in her own opinion, had to be a winner of that particular award. Especially since Gwynth didn't seem to realize exactly what the oldest Electronic Fairy in existence could do.

Omoikane had been locked away into a storage cabinet somewhere unknown in the house the previous night. But while Ruri herself did not know the entire grounds of the castle from top to bottom, someone else she could easily talk to could. Besides, it's not as if she needed to be in the room to talk to Omoikane. Ruri, careful not to wrinkle her dress in a way that would make Gwynth, who she was beginning to hate, suspect a thing, lied down on her bed, falling into a steady breath and reaching out with her mind. Within a matter of seconds, she found her connection to Omoikane and grasped hold of it, not aware of the electric blue lights in her eyes or the white glow in her hands.

"Omoikane, it's Ruri," she whispered. Her senses were bombarded with messages of joy from the robot. Unconsciously smiling, she whispered, "I've missed you too. Ariko isn't allowed to talk to me while Otousama is gone." Confusion. "That… bitch told him not to." Ruri winced slightly as she actually was brought to swearing at the thought of her biological mother. Omoikane, nonetheless, agreed whole-heartedly. Ruri's father was a lot nicer than her mother, who was very against Jumpers and whose rude behavior towards Ruri and Ariko had sparked many an argument between the two rulers of Peaceland.

Ruri thought for a moment, then realized exactly her plan of attack. "Omoikane, we're going to have to retaliate, and I don't mean tattling when Otousama comes back." Agreement. "Do you know where you are, Omoikane?" Affirmative. The map of the castle appeared in Ruri's mind, showing her position, Omoikane's, and the best path between the two places. Ruri memorized this map quickly, then nodded, shooing the image away, though she had burned it into her mind. "I'm going to send Alfred to go get you out, meanwhile, I'll set up an alibi for myself, all right?" Compliance. Omoikane's voice seemed to return to him, and she heard it, whispering as she had been, "Ruri-sama, are you sure Alfred will be able to get me?"

"He has the keys, and I think the only reason he hasn't is because I haven't asked him to yet. He's on Otousama's side, you know." She bit her lip. "Omoikane, the family is going to fall apart with this fight, I can tell."

"I'm sorry." Ruri shook her head. She may not have known what exactly she was getting into as a child when she got her nanoinjection, but there was no reason for her to hate herself for it now. She was different, and always has been, so she accepted it. Her mother was either going to have to accept it, or just kick Ruri out, because there was no changing it now.

"See in a few minutes, Omoikane." She let go of the connection, but did not sever it. She never did. The connection line had been formed when she was still a little girl, and she had always been able to talk to Omoikane with that line, just by thinking about the white string that held her with her best friend. She sat up in bed, rubbed her eyes to make sure all the electric sparks were gone before getting up and opening her door a crack. Luckily enough, Alfred was walking down the hallway. At seeing the dauphine's door open when Ruri was supposed to be "grounded" he walked over and opened it more. "Is there something you need, Your Highness?" Ruri nodded, motioning for him to come in. After he did, she shut the door.

She grabbed a piece of paper from her desk and quickly, and messily, sketched the map that was still in her mind, marking both her room and the storage closet that was Omoikane's prison. She handed it to the Royal Children's Guard. He looked it over. "Is this where your robot is?"

"Yes. Do you have the key for that door?"

He thought for a moment. "I believe so. Would you like me to…"

"Yes. Will you?"

Another moment of thought. Then he nodded. "Yes, Princess Ruri." Ruri nodded. Alfred stuffed the badly drawn map in his pocket then looked over Ruri. "How did you find out where he is?"

"From Omoikane. He knows the whole layout of the castle." Alfred looked her over again. The closet where Omoikane was was clear on the other side of the castle. Ruri was able to talk to her friend with their minds from such a great distance. But yet, here she was, a pale, thin, almost frail girl being mistreated by her mother because of these abilities. He sighed, shaking his head. "Sometimes I don't think we've seen all that you can do, Your Highness." With that, he left the room, and Ruri rushed over to her desk, picking up her white phone and glancing over her address book. Once she had found the number she was looking for, she dialed it.

"Moshi moshi, Yamada Manor." The voice was unfamiliar, but Ruri didn't worry about that. "May I please speak to Tenkawa-san?"

"Just a moment. May I ask your name, Miss?"

Ruri's silver eyebrows gathered together. Her title was just too long, and did not get the attention that she wanted. So it would go then. "Hoshino Ruri."

A few moments of silence, then some running and a click of a picked up phone. "Ruri?!?" Another click as another phone was hung up. "Oh my God of Water, I never thought you'd be the one calling me? I was figuring it would be Sayuri or one of the girls again… But what's up, Ruri?"

Ruri's mouth turned up a bit at the sound of the Martian cook's voice. "Nothing is really up, Tenkawa-san, but things are really low around here." She cleared her throat, unable to believe that she was going to ask this. "You still have a place for me… where you live, am I right?"

"Ano… yeah! There's still a bed empty in Hikaru's room. Why, if you don't mind me asking?"

Ruri looked down at the white surface of her desk. She could see the wood under the paint. It was so ugly. "I'm a little afraid that I may be getting myself thrown out." There would be no whitewashing this story. "My… mother is Anti-Jumper."

"…Are you kidding me? Wait, who am I talking to? But… oh that's horrible, Ruri-chan. I haven't even experienced any Anti-Jumpers yet. What has she been doing? I thought Peaceland was Jumper-safe."

"It is. It would be bad for a tourist attraction to be against them. Besides, Otousama is perfectly fine with Ariko being friends with Yukina and with me actually being a jumper, but he's not here. That…" she felt herself wince as she did it again, but this time more loudly, "bitch is, and seems to think that she can separate me from my Omoikane." There was something about her tone that scared even Ruri herself. Almost as if she was handing out an extremely real death-threat.

"Ruri, you swore!"

Ruri shook her head, feeling more defiant by the minute. "Yes, and I would do it again. I hate her, Tenkawa-san. I sealed my future with my nanoinjection."

"I understand, Ruri, really. I'm a Jumper too, you know, and by birth! So you're calling to make sure that…"

"If that woman thinks she can throw me out to fend for myself, I won't be doing that at all. And that I'll be with someone that I… trust, and that Otousama and Ariko will know where I am."

"Okay, gotcha. Is there anything else I can do for you, Ruri?" Ruri felt a tug in the back of her head. "Wait a minute, Tenkawa-san." She set the phone down so she could find out why Omoikane was tugging the white string. "What is it, Omoikane?"

"The King is back! Your mother and father are fighting again, and all your brothers are trying to listen in!" Ruri rubbed her temples. Her brothers were always trying to listen in. She picked the phone back up, her spirits obviously raised by this little tidbit of information. "Tenkawa-san, I'm sorry to worry you. Otousama is back from Japan."

"Oh, it's our job to worry about you, Ruri-chan! If you ever need to get away, you know where we live and you know the number, ne? Don't hesitate next time!" Ruri smiled slightly. "Hai, Tenkawa-san. Sayonara."

~*~

The story about the turmoil within Peace Castle somehow leaked out and was printed in tabloids everywhere within the next few days.

Lapis, of course, did not care for such stupid magazines, but her supervisor read them for laughs, and with a cover that spoke about the place and people she had just seen a month ago, it intrigued her to find out exactly what those tale spinners had to say about the Royal Family of Peaceland, the country that was a total joke.

It was a colorful story about how most of the Peaceland children were mentally retarded, (totally off the wall) how the first prince was having an affair at eleven with a Jupiterian woman, (not too far off, as Ariko did have a large crush on Yukina, which was obvious at the ball) and how the queen was treating her daughter with the Cinderella complex. That one in particular seemed the most true, as Lapis was not the only one that noticed that Queen Gwynth was obviously against Jumpers of all kinds: those by birth, pilots, and Electronic Fairies, which made Lapis wrinkle her nose a bit in disgust. She almost felt a pang of pity for the one she was created to be a copy of.

Of course as Lapis closed the magazine, Hari entered the room. "Hello, Lapis. What are you reading?"

"A tabloid story about the Peaceland Monarchy." Hari raised his eyebrows and opened up to that page, glancing over it. "Does it say anything about Her Highness?"

Lapis narrowed her yellow eyes at her partner. "No, it says nothing of Ruri." Hari blushed and shook his head. "No, not her, the queen. How she's Anti."

"I see. They mention something to that extent." Seeing Hari's frown, she softened her expression. "Something troubles you."

"Yeah. I guess I'm just… feeling sorry for her. You know, Princess Ruri. She has to live with that woman. I'm just thankful Nergal is Jumper-friendly, not to mention my parents."

"She told you no."

Hari had to pause to remember what Lapis was speaking of, because asking would just annoy her, he knew. "Oh, that! Oh, that wasn't anything, Lapis. You know that. She had every right to refuse."

Lapis was silent. She finished running through the security systems as she glanced at the clock and realized their shifts were over. "It appears we've grown up far too fast. In any case, you have to go home now, do you not?"

Hari looked at the clock longingly. "Aw, I don't want to… All I ever get at home is 'what do you do there' and stuff… Where do you go when quitting time arrives, Lapis?"

"Nowhere." Hari blinked at the fast answer from the pallid girl. "What?"

"Nowhere. I don't go anywhere. My bedroom is on one of the private floors." Lapis's voice was still monotone, but Hari's face turned a little sad. "You don't even… live with your parents?"

"I've never had parents. I was born in a laboratory, Hari. You know that." Hari frowned even more. "Gods, I never thought about it before, Lapis… want to come to my house for dinner today?"

Lapis turned to him. "Why?"

Hari shrugged. "I don't know. Give my parents an idea of what's been going on since I because… who I am, you know? And I feel kind of sad about you having to be here. So just say yes, all right?"

Lapis was touched, but her expression did not change. "Yes."

~*~

That day was the day Ayuko and Genji left the Uribatake house, possibly forever.

All of the things they had decided would go to Ayuko had already been packed and put in her new apartment, which happened to be almost everything Uribatake could live without. Genji, after a chaste goodbye to the man they had believed was his father for all thirteen years of his life, went to wait in the car for his mother.

Ayuko sighed, regarding Seiya. She had never really looked at him as anything but a goal when they were in school, and nothing but an idiot while they were married. But now that they were separated by law, they actually could be separated as they had been for all these years emotionally. But something held her back.

"Seiya… God, I don't know if I can leave!"

Seiya nodded, glancing back at their house. They had lived there the entire time they were married, and he wasn't sure himself if he could live there by himself. "I know what you mean. We've lived here a long time." Ayuko shook her head. "No, that's not it. It's just that… Thirteen years is a long time."

"Yeah, and neither of us actually grew up until now." Ayuko nodded. It was foolish of her to marry Seiya in the first place, just because there was a mix up on whose Genji was. She wasn't even sure if she loved Seiya in the first place. Staying with him just because of a hunch was… dumb. But she had… "I've gotten too used to you, you big bastard." She meant to ruffle his hair, but it was slow, too slow, and she just found herself with her hand on his cheek. He covered it and removed it, letting go when it wasn't within reach of him. "Yeah. But this is who it's gotta go, right?" Ayuko nodded. They had decided on this when he came back from the Nadesico, and left again. She bowed her head. "Sayonara, Uribatake Seiya."

He gave her a small salute. "You're only going across town. Maybe I'll see you around." Ayuko smiled. "Maybe."

"Well, sayonara, Shugemitsu Ayuko." At the sound of her maiden name again, she sighed. "Finally, free of your goddamn family name." They smiled as she turned to get in the car. Genji, in the passenger's seat, looked out the window to see Seiya once more. The mechanic waved, and Genji did to, as the car left the driveway and crawled down the street. Once it had turned out of view, Seiya sighed. That was a lot harder than he thought it was.

He reentered his house and realized that that statement was true. It was now his house, not his family's. Glancing around, he noticed that it was a lot emptier than he thought. The sofa was gone, replaced by a few chairs. He had a much smaller TV now, from their bedroom. And the silence, it was so deafening. He shook his head and walked over to the stereo, one of the things he was left with, putting in a disk and playing it. The music filled the room, but there was something else that just wasn't… right.

There was no one there, not even sleeping. 'This would be a good time for me to get a cat or something,' he thought as he opened the refrigerator. There were some leftover steak from the night before, enough vegetables to make a salad, hot dogs, some ground hamburger, and various other things that looked very unappetizing. He closed the fridge. "God damn it. What am I supposed to do now?" He could just make food, or even have something instant out of the cupboard, but the silence and lack of people in the house…

He turned his stereo off and grabbed his jacket. He knew he should wait to see if Ayuko was going to call him, but he couldn't stand being in that house for a second longer. He was going out to eat where he knew there would be people he knew.

He was going to Peaceful Days.

~*~

When Akito got home, he was bombarded by a popcorn-wielding Hikaru. "Akito, do you see this? This stuff in my arms? It's POPCORN! FOOD! I'm sitting here making myself fatter because I'm starving and you just now got home!?!" Akito covered his face, smiling. "Oh, but if you knew what I knew, you'd be so happy you wouldn't be eating popcorn anymore."

"And just what is that?"

"Oh, a friend of yours showed up at the restaurant today." Izumi walked in the door that moment, carrying her ukulele case and looking a bit tired. "He's talking about Uribatake-san." Hikaru shrieked, and Akito had to catch the clear bowl before Hikaru dropped it.

"ARE YOU SERIOUS!?! Oh my Goddess of Air! I haven't seen him or talked to him since the ball!" Izumi took the bowl from Akito and ate some out of it, wincing at the amount of salt on the popcorn. She pushed Akito forward. "Hikaru's not the only one starving here, Mr. I'm the only one who can cook Tenkawa. Go cook. Hikaru, there's way too much Aqua-damn salt on this. You're gonna clog your fucking arteries." Hikaru stole the bowl back and put more of the kernels in her mouth. "Fuck you, Izumi!" said she with a smile before she walked back into the parlor, plopping down on the couch.

Of all things, Hikaru was watching the news in mute when Jun walked in, a clipboard and pen in hand. "I'm supposing the Martian one is home with you yelling about food."

"You heard me all the way in your abode? I'm touched." Jun rolled his eyes and sat on the other sofa, tapping the clipboard. Hikaru glanced over. "What's that for, Junny?"

"Oh, well, Izumi said get a hobby, so I'm jumping onto the Jumper debate, no pun intended. I'm gonna go to Akito's restaurant tomorrow morning with a petition and get people that are with us to sign it and send it somewhere. I haven't gotten all the details figured out yet, so that's what I'm doing right now."

"Huh, sounds pretty interesting. Nice job. I'd have figured you'd do some kind of baseball card thing, since you're into that sport and all."

"Nah. Cards aren't any fun. Nice to look at, but not any real fun. I'd rather play than anything else."

Hikaru nodded, watching the news, pretending that she knew what was going on. Jun glanced at the silent TV and looked back at the redhead. "Why are you watching it without sound?"

"Oh, all they ever talk about is stuff I'm not interested in. More crazy Anti-Jumper things. Sick of hearing their bullshit. Murders all over the Aer-damned city and country and world and system. Gets boring." Jun nodded, understanding. After a few moments of silence and trying to think of exactly what the petition would say at the top, he heard Hikaru giggle. He looked up. "What?"

"Oh, nothing. They just caught this lady for the murder of somebody."

"How do you KNOW that?"

"I just do. Here, let me turn the sound back on."

The TV's voice came back to life. "-And for the murder of a homeless man, whose body was found in a dumpster just last week, she's been arrested and taken in for questioning, suspected of this heinous crime. Her bail is set to twenty-five million yen."

Jun raised an eyebrow. "So what's so funny about it?" Hikaru shrugged. "It's stupid, but she looked like you, really. Not so much the hair, but your faces was very similar." Jun's eyebrows snapped together and he watched the screen for a moment more. Sure enough, they showed the picture again, asking that if anyone else has any information about this woman or the crime, to contact some number.

The blue-haired man stood up immediately, his clipboard and pen on the carpet, covering his mouth with his hands. Hikaru looked at Jun weird. "What? What's wrong?"

"D… did you catch her name?"

"I dunno, they ran it by on the ticker really fast. Something Joruri, I know that."

"OH MY FUCKING GODDESS OF FIRE!!!" Jun's outburst startled Hikaru, causing her to jump. "What the hell is your problem?"

"Hikaru… that's my mom."

~*~

TBC…

~*~

A/N: Yeah, this chapter sucked in comparison to the last one. Oh well, it's okay. We'll live. Nothing really of note this time… except the ending. Yes, more furniture on the stage. Not quite very much so, but we'll have something to do with our Yamada Manor people for a while. Anyway, as this one sucked, let's get you ready for the next one. Stuff with Jun and his mom and some other stuff related, Megumi comes back to Earth and hangs out with Minato, Yurika's anger with Kaguya, Inez confronts Erina, and some other stuff along the way. Yay. Okay, you know the drill, though I won't blame you if you just not say anything. I wouldn't. But this chapter was meant to suck after such a great one last time. ^^ It'll get better. No damn trance this time… fucked me over. Anyway, ciao!


	12. Revelations tend to suck

A/N: Oh dear god Tabby don't screw this up… Oh, hi! ^^ Well, I was just talking to myself… Well, let's start with the standard author's note so that I stop embarrassing myself. Anyway, questions and concerns… yes I am a little bastard, aren't I? ^^ I love me sometimes. ^^ Anyway, now, recap time. Izumi is stressing Inez out, Jun becomes a pyromaniac but not really, Ryoko started thinking about her thoughts on life, Gwynth is a total bitch and Ruri shows exactly how much she can defy her, Lapis and Hari had a… moment, I guess, Uribatake's family officially became not his family anymore, and Jun's mom was arrested for murder. ^^ Oh, I thought that was funny. Mostly because I've wanted to do it for a bit. ^^ Alright, now, this time we get to see some more normal stuff, and then! Then! We also get to poke, at the door opened last chapter. ^^ Oh yeah. And this time, we jump right in, because of the cliffhanger I left it at last time. Anyway, let's get the going.

~*~

Hikaru promptly dropped the entire bowl of popcorn onto the floor as Gai came in from the library. The lightning mage sighed loudly. "Jun, please don't scream at the top of your lungs unless someone is deciding that you're good eatin', in which case I will ask about Akito's sanity and Hikaru, you better go get the fucking vacuum and clean that shit up, you crazy woman."

Hikaru started making wild motions with her mouth and hands, but no sound or sense came out of either. Jun just kept staring at the TV. "I just can't believe it," he whispered, now hoarse from shouting so loudly and abruptly. A voice came from the kitchen. "Hikaru, you better not still be eating that popcorn! And Jun, I don't think they heard you on Ninlan, wanna try again?" Gai noticed that Jun had not responded at all to what was said to him, and Hikaru still couldn't speak, but had gotten the vacuum out. "What the hell is going on?"

Hikaru finally found her voice. "Jun's mom got arrested for murdering some homeless guy and stuffing him in a dumpster." Gai's jaw dropped. "Are you serious?" At Hikaru swift nod, he looked back at the fire mage. "Oh, Junny…"

"What the hell was she thinking?" It certainly wasn't a sentence they assumed they would have heard from someone who had spent nearly a month distraught because he had a broken heart. And the tone, it spoke volumes of anger and frustration. Jun sat down back on the couch, leaning back and closing his eyes. "Flamma-damn woman."

Akito finally entered the room, drying his hands on a hand towel. "So what the fuck is going on?"

Gai, who had sat down next to Jun on the couch, looked up at his lover. "Jun's mom's suspected of murder."

"WHAT?"

This time Jun held a hand up to his ear. "Oh, I hear a phone. It must be Megumi calling to tell Tenkawa to shut the fuck up." Akito, who opened his mouth to retort, noticed who said it, narrowing his eyes and pointing at the blue-haired man. "You are feeling better."

"Yeah, that was me. Now what's this I hear from my end of the house about Jun's mom going on a drunken pedestrian hitting spree?" Hikaru giggled. "The rumors evolved that fast in the house?"

"Yeah, by the way, Akito, you're supposed to hurry the fuck up with the food, says Itsuki. I, on the other hand, am perfectly happy with these things until dinner." Ryoko, entering the room and plopping on the couch, carried a bag of sandwich cookies. Gai slapped his forehead. "Aer-dammit, I am so going to ban food from the parlor."

"Fuck off, Jiro. Tenkawa, in the kitchen, pronto. Now, spill the beans, Junny. Raised to be a juvenile delinquent were you?" Itsuki took the vacuum from Hikaru and helped her suck up all the popcorn and salt particles from the floor. Izumi shrugged her shoulders and raised her voice. "Personally I can't see anyone's mom doing that."

Hikaru rolled her eyes. "Izumi, look at what mothers we were exposed to. I can't see Mom, Okaachan, or Mother doing that, but Grandmother on the other hand…"

"I could see my dad doing it."

"Yeah, but your dad's an assfuck Ryoko."

"SHUT UP!" Akito finally got silence. "Okay, one, stop eating you ass-monkeys. Two, the food is fucking simmering, so stop whining about it. Three, Hikaru, that was a sick way to describe anyone's father and you have supplied me nightmares for at least the rest of the week. Finally, why don't you fucking let the Aqua-damn boy talk, for the Gods' sake?"

Izumi immediately clapped, which caused Akito to bow. But once she was done, all heads were turned toward Jun, who shrugged. "What's to know? She kicked me out soon after my father died, so I lived with Yurika and her father. Frankly, I wouldn't put something like this past her, and I really don't care. She's probably fucking disowned me by now anyway."

"Aer, that fucking sucks, Junny. Well, my parents probably would have kicked me out and denied me everything by now if they were alive, eh, Itsuki?"

"Absolutely, Jiro. They were intent on seeing little Jiros wandering the house, or both of them."

"Little jiros ARE wandering at least Kazamo Manor, or they have. They got their wish!"

"Shut up Izumi!"

Akito rubbed his temples, annoyed with just about everyone in the room. "Okay, look. Ryoko, Itsuki… go make out in the garbage room or something. Gai, could you go check the macaroni for me? Just stir it. Thanks. Hikaru… just shut the hell up, okay? Izumi… you too. Now, Junny." After everyone that had been dispelled from the room went away grumbling, Akito sat down next to the only other one of them that held a candle for Yurika. "Is there something…"

"No. She was a total bitch to me. Fuck her."

"No, because then stupid people WOULD have a reason to call you a motherfucker which you aren't!"

"Damn you Hikaru!"

"Go the fuck away or something, shit!" cried Akito, tired of these monkeys they lived with. Finally they left Akito and Jun alone in the parlor. Jun shook out his chin-length blue hair, running his fingers through it. "Akito, do you think I should grow it out totally? I was just being lazy and not cutting to be, you know, lazy. But now I'm starting to wonder." Akito shrugged. "You're asking the wrong person. I happen to have a hair fetish, so ask someone else. But Junny, isn't there anything else that you'd like to say about her, to her, whatever? I know that there was a lot I wanted to say when I got passed around from foster home to foster home, but I kept it in and it just murdered me. You… You don't need this now. You've improved, I know, but improving is totally different from actually being better."

"Flamma-dammit, Tenkawa, you're not tell me anything I don't know!" Jun stood up immediately and started to pace. "I know all this shit, okay? But… I guess you're right. There are some things I'd really like to tell her. Like… a lot."

Akito nodded, stood and patted Jun on the shoulder. "You're lucky. I'm sure a lot of us have some things we've wanted to say to our parents, but we just can't do it anymore."

"Bravo." The two men looked up to see Izumi leaning against the door. She clapped again. "I know there's some words I'd like to shoot at my father, but I have no fucking clue who he is. And I'd really like to see my mom again, but I'm starting to wonder if she even made it back to Earth. You should consider yourself lucky that you are guaranteed a chance to see and tell off your mom."

Akito nodded for Jun, who still stood motionless in the parlor. "Izumi, could you ask Gai if we can go to Tokyo tonight? Or tomorrow morning, at the very latest? Tell him it's so that Jun can use the privilege that… many of us don't have."

"Will do."

~*~

And so, the next day, Gai, Izumi, Ryoko, and Hikaru took Jun to Tokyo Police Station, intent on getting the fire mage to confront his mother.

Gai rolled his eyes after they had gotten into the car. "I don't see why all of you have to come. I was just going to drive Junny myself." Hikaru glared at the back of her friend's head. "Because Ryoko and Izumi have nothing else better to do, we're here for emotional support, and I'm here myself to make sure Junny doesn't burn the place down."

Jun crossed his arms and set his mouth into a firm line. "I'm not going to flip out. I don't see why you all think I'm going to." One look into the visible eye of Izumi in the rear view mirror silence Jun. "I found you setting some of your poems on fire the other day. Don't tell me you're not going to flip out." Gai looked over at Jun before setting his eyes back on the road. "Yeah, 'Kito's been really hazy on the details about what you've been doing to not go on a homicidal spree. But I didn't know you wrote poems…" Hikaru hit the youngest of them over the head from behind him.

"You retard, why the hell do you think I've been going to him for help with the story of my manga? Idiot!" Gai rubbed his head, growling under his breath. "Aer-dammit, I just thought he was a whiz at symbolism and all the writing crap! How was I supposed to know, shit! I'm not creative, Aer knows that!"

Ryoko rubbed her face in frustration. "My God of Earth, Yamada, you're lucky you're not in reaching distance, or I would so kill you because you're so fucking STUPID!" Jun looked back at the tomboy who stopped glaring at Gai to give him a smile. She was telling him to lay off Jun for him. Jun nodded in gratitude. He wasn't thinking very clearly with Gai and Hikaru yelling at each other.

Jun had time to think after that, but not much. They soon arrived at the place and Jun was going to have to face his mother, whether he was prepared or not.

Once the arrived, the Three Angels took it upon themselves to just sit down. Gai took Jun up to the front desk. "Ano… Yamada Jiro and party to see… Aoi Joruri?" Jun shook his head. Gai used his real name, which he only did when he was trying to throw his weight around to get what he wanted. He saw the officer's eyebrows raise then he glanced at his records. "I don't know if we have someone here of that name… Wait, Joruri, you say? We picked up a lady yesterday for murder, do you mean her?" Jun nodded quickly. The officer pointed down a hall. "Tell the guard you have permission, okay?"

"Right-o." Jun laughed a bit at the absurdity. "That was nuts, Daigoji. I thought I was going to have to say I'm her son."

"That would never have gotten the girls in. I had to use rank." Jun nodded as Gai pulled the same rank trick on the guard that watched a locked door. He promptly unlocked it and let them in.

Jun went on ahead, keeping a watchful eye on his back and his right palm ready should anything happen. He knew he was just being paranoid of course, but he remembered hearing once that it was better to be paranoid than dead. But as he realized that his friends were following him, he relaxed. He really was a wuss sometimes.

But they came up to the cell that Joruri was locked in, and Jun felt his eyes softened as he gripped the bars that created her fourth wall. She looked almost as she did when he left, her long, curly black hair almost reaching her waist and various wrinkles forming on her face, and with glasses perched on her button-like nose. Hikaru had been right, though he had never noticed it before: his and her faces were very similar, with her face shape and expressive dark blue eyes that she now narrowed at him. "Well, you're one face I didn't expect to see."

Jun nodded, feeling a little uncomfortable. He looked down. "H… hello, Okaasan. I didn't expect to see you in a place like this."

Joruri looked behind her son. "And you brought friends to gawk at me. Why am I not surprised, Jun?" Jun looked up and glared at her. "They came to make sure I don't flip out and set the whole damn place on fire." Joruri crossed her arms, an ugly smirk on her face. "So you've become a pyromaniac. I knew there was something like that going on with you. You burning all those papers of garbage. Your father and I knew that stuff would turn you into a sick pansy. Thank god you got drafted."

"I didn't get drafted, Okaasan, I chose to go on the ship." Even so, Jun could hear his voice quiver and he bit his lip, embarrassed. What he didn't see was Gai clenching his fist, swearing to himself that he would not do something very bad.

"Whatever. Though it doesn't look like it's done much good for you with that long-ass hair of yours. Girls don't go for men with long hair, remember?" Hikaru instantly wound her arm around Jun's, almost as if to refute Joruri's statement. Jun glanced at the redhead, whose eyes told him different. 'Appearance is nothing, Junny. And you're cute anyway.'

"So what are you doing here, anyway, failure of mine? I know you're not here to bail me out."

Jun looked down at his hands, beginning to rub the poles they gripped to calm himself. He really was starting to notice a tingle somewhere in him, one that made him feel cold and what to make him and the room warmer, but realized quickly that that was his magic attempting to break out. "Okaasan, did you really do it?"

"I'm not at liberty to say that. Besides, it's all for the jury to decide, ne?" She paused. "What's that on your hand?"

Jun immediately let go of the bars and covered his right hand. "A… Ano…" He just couldn't answer it. Ryoko leaned against the wall behind her, not frightened by this woman at all. "It's a nanocontroller. For your information, Jun happens to be-"

"A Jumper?" she asked, her jaw dropping. A hard expression crossed her face. "My only son is no Jumper." Jun nodded slowly. "I am." He held up his palm and started a small flame in it, enough to generate light and be seen, but only for a moment, as he snuffed it out the next. She glared at him. "How could you do this? You are a failure. Nothing but a failure. I can't believe you did this. Jumpers are dirty, filthy little bastards, and if they think that me killing a stupid man with my car and hiding him is a crime against humanity, your entire existence goes against the laws of nature itself! You should just give up now because each and every single one of your kind will be exterminated!" Jun had let go of the bars and now had backed away so his back was against the wall, feeling tears well up in his eyes. He had never heard someone call him such ugly things just because of the markings on his hand.

Gai stepped into his place and glared at the woman. "If you didn't notice, lady, everyone that came with him, you know, all of us? We're all Jumpers too, and it's not exactly the smartest thing to insult them like that." Ryoko rolled her eyes as the door to the main office opened and closed again, letting someone else in to talk to one of the people in the cells. "If you didn't notice, Yamada, we happen to be in a police station. I'd rather not be arrested because of you threatening people." Izumi nodded, tugging the tall man's sleeve. "Yeah, asshole, don't make the situation any worse by confirming everything she believes about us. We're here for Junny, who's now crying, you fuckwad."

Hiakru was absolutely speechless at who she saw down the hall. "Ryoko…"

"Aw dammit, see what your stupid ideas about us did, lady? He was even getting better, for Aer's sake!"

"Yamada, you're just making it fucking worse…"

"And you fools swear by other gods that don't exist, and not by the one and true God? How much more blasphemous could you get?"

"Ryoko…"

"Oh, as if what we can do isn't proof enough? I've seen Aer, Aqua, all of them with my very own eyes, unlike you people that think that a stain that looks like a face is an act of your God?"

"Terra, shut the fuck up Yamada!"

"RYOKO!" The tomboy turned to Hikaru and sighed. "What, Hikaru? I'm trying to get Yamada to shut up and…" She saw where Hikaru was pointing and her jaw dropped. "Oh my… Otousan?" Now even Izumi looked up. "Wow. Now that's something. I guess I'll take over for you, Ryoko…" Izumi quickly took Ryoko's job of keeping the co-CEO of Mugendai silent as he and Jun's mother debated, with Jun now just looking to see why Hikaru had yelled so loudly.

Ryoko stood in front of Hikaru and crossed her arms. "You. So what the fuck are you doing here?" Subaru Tsutaya, a man that looked nothing like Ryoko, crossed his own arms. "I came to pay bail for my wife, what the hell are you doing here, little girl?"

"Making sure my friend doesn't go ballistic."

"Tsutaya!" cried Joruri, getting up and running to the bars, gripping them and looking a lot happier, causing many jaws to drop. Jun stood from his sitting position, barely capable of speaking. "Okaasan… you married…"

"My father?" Ryoko looked back at the jailed woman, then back to her father. Hikaru grabbed her head, as if she was in an anime. "Aer-dammit, this is making my head hurt! What the hell is going on?" Izumi shook her head, confused as well. "The world has turned on its head." Gai nodded, looking back and forth from Ryoko's father to Jun's mother. Soon he too grabbed his forehead. "Okay, I can't fucking take this. I'm going to the damn vending machine. Anyone who wants to accompany me is welcome." He didn't expect Hikaru and Izumi to follow. With a raised eyebrow as they got out of the hallway, Izumi explained. "Ryoko can take care of herself. Junny… I think he's too surprised to roast anybody over an open pit."

Izumi happened to be right. Jun only looked at his mother for an explanation, which she gave, adjusting her glasses. "Did you really expect me to be single for the rest of my life? Besides, I had no idea that my rebellious step-daughter would be…"

"Her?" interjected Tsutaya, holding his hand out to Ryoko as if presenting her. "Yes." Ryoko rolled her eyes. "Rebellious for reasons. Junny, I've had enough of this bullshit. Let's go. I could go for a soda myself right now." Jun nodded slowly, not even realizing what Ryoko said as she grabbed his hand and pulled her back the front area of the station.

~*~

The way back was a tale and a half. After Gai finished ranting about how he had never seen such idiotic views from anyone before about people she didn't even understand, Izumi regarded both Ryoko and Jun, one next to her and one in front. "I don't get it, so you two are steps?"

"I guess. Though you have to admit that's freakin' weird, eh, Junny?" Ryoko patted him on the arm, trying to spur a response. He hadn't spoken for much of the ride. He sighed and started picking at a strand of hair. "Hey, it's a small world after all."

"Ha ha. Very funny. Put that sign away Izumi. But that's not what I mean Junny. Remember when we were on the ship and we tried to figure out our relationship? Isn't that weird?" Jun thought back to that day when they ha determined that they were exact opposites, almost like… "Siblings," said he, remembering this. "We decided that you were like the little sister I never had."

"Aer, you people are freaking me out. This is just way too coincidental for me. Gods, I wonder what they think their doing."

"Playing with our heads, it looks like. But you're right, this is a little too coincidental."

"In any case!" retorted Jun loudly, trying to stop the same kind of babble that happened back in Tokyo, as they had reentered Kawasaki. "I just have to wonder what if we never were on the ship?"

"That's a whole other can of beans, Junny." Izumi leaned against his seat. "You trying to figure out exactly how you two would have been if you knew about this when it happened, right?"

Ryoko laughed. "Looking at us, we would have hated each other guts!" Jun nodded. Gai looked skeptical. "It's just weird. I always saw Itsuki as my big sister, so it looks as if, indirectly, Jun's suddenly like a brother in law."

Hikaru opened her mouth, then realized that she, Ryoko, and Izumi were always really close. "Holy fuck, this is just weird!"

"You got that right."

~*~

After work and some intense Jumping Experiments, Yurika was nothing short of pissed off. Yurika had long moved into Erina's penthouse apartment. Erina disliked the idea of living in a horrendously huge house, and instead lived the high life, well, high. So as Erina drove them back home, occasionally glancing at Yurika with a bag of ice on her black eyes and licking the blood off her split lip, she wondered about some things interesting. Like exactly what she was supposed to tell Yurika the next time she asked the "do you love me?" or "how serious about me are you?" questions. She wasn't really serious about Yurika. She was just… something Erina had wanted to test-drive and try out, not buy and use for all eternity. And there was the thing about Kaguya and Yurika fighting constantly in the halls of the building. Erina was tempted to just restrict her former lover from headquarters, but she was often reminded that since Asuka and Nergal had combined, she had just as much clearance as Erina, no matter what she wanted.

Erina watched Yurika remove the plastic bag from her swollen eye, opening it, and putting one of the cubes of ice into her mouth. She furrowed her eyes brows. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Eating an ice cube. I'm thirsty. What's wrong with that?" Erina slapped her forehead. For someone who had apparently "grown up", she certainly was childish. "You look like a little kid when you do that. Besides, the ice in that is supposed to help make your eye feel better."

"It does feel better. It feels numb, actually. But I suppose that's better than throbbing, ne?" Erina fell silent. There wasn't anything she could do to change Yurika. It was too late. Any changes to her were made by Akito and her cousin Nagare. Besides, a month was nothing. But as she looked at the woman she never thought she would win, her split lip and bruised eye stood out, for some reason. She frowned. "When are you and Kaguya going to knock it off?"

Yurika smiled broadly. "When one of us does get knocked out, most likely." Erina's eyebrows twitched. It was a horrible pun and Erina almost wished Izumi was there to say just so. "I'm serious, Yurika."

The Martian looked out the window longingly at absolutely nothing. She was silent for a while. Erina was about to ask her question again when she heard the somber, quiet voice of Yurika. "…It's always been like this, you know. Us fighting, I mean. There'd be something between us, always. When we were little, it was Akito. We both wanted him as our own, and that frustration led to us screaming at each other and beating each other up. That's one of the reasons she left Mars in the first place. I guess… when she realizes that I'm the one with you, and not her, it'll finally stop."

Erina nodded, parking the car in the parking garage on the first floor. It all made sense. Kaguya had been used to getting everything she wanted, and Yurika often got what Kaguya wanted in terms of relationships, if she was to look at Akito as an example. Besides, Erina cursed herself, she should have known that. Both of the Martian women were as easy to read as a book. All of the Martians were, save for Inez. And Erina should know that, especially with being romantically involved with all except Akito. But it was Yurika's next question that threw Erina for a loop.

"Erina… you're not serious about me, are you? I'm just a sex object, ne?" Erina started, looking at Yurika. She had her eyes closed and a very calm look on her face. Yurika reopened her aqua green eyes and turned to her lesbian lover. "You thought I would be put off by your simple pushing the questions I ask you away, didn't you?" Now Yurika smiled and got out of the car. "I know exactly what you mean to do with me. But what I find strange is that I don't really care or mind." Yurika started walking to the elevator, pushing the up button.

'Well I'll be damned.' Erina shut the car door, locked it, and joined Yurika over by the elevator. 'Maybe they aren't so easily read as I thought.'

~*~

Minato just couldn't believe she was standing at the Jump Shuttle station in Tokyo waiting for Megumi. She had received a letter earlier that week telling her when exactly her engaged best friend was going to be arriving and ordering her to pick her up. The former helmswoman had to say that she was beginning to miss her gossiping partner in crime when the letter arrived. It certainly did cheer her up for the rest of the week until she now stood, waiting for the shuttle to arrive.

"It's completely inhumane and against nature. You all should be ashamed of yourselves!" Minato squeezed her eyes shut and tried her hardest to ignore the shouts of the picketers. She had to commend them for using their freedoms to speak their views, but she couldn't help hating them. These were the people teaching their children to hate and attack Jumpers like Yukina, who had done nothing wrong.

A large whoosh-like sound erupted from inside the docking area, and suddenly there was a shuttle pulling up to the boarding and unloading area. It was mere moments before Minato found a pale hand, adorned with its ring, waving in the air. Minato raised her hand too and found Megumi in the crowd.

Strangely enough, whenever Megumi came to Earth, she was dressed in street clothes, Minato noticed, and not the style of clothing from the planet she now called home. Even now, she wore sandals, jeans, and an orange, yellow, and purple striped shirt Minato had never seen before. Noticing Minato's odd look at her, she pulled on her shirt, inspecting it for lint. "Yeah, you know, it's weird. Ninlan has, like, the fashion sense that everyone wants in on, with the whole medieval thing, but it's catching onto the bandwagon and has started to make more modern clothes." She shrugged.

Minato nodded, understanding. "I see… that's why you decided to come to Earth to shop for your wedding dress."

"Bingo. And of course, why don't I hang out with my best friend while I'm at it." She wrapped her arms around Minato's shoulders and hugged. Something still tugged at Minato's thoughts. Megumi, your wedding isn't for a few months now. Why are you getting your dress now?"

"Okay, first of all, two months is not a few. It's a couple. And a couple is really short notice. Besides, I'm just window-shopping today. Looking at my options. Which, if I remember what Rumiko said about traditional Ninlandish weddings, aren't many. But let's at the very least start walking and talking." And so they did.

"So what kind of things are involved in a Ninlandish wedding that's not in a typical wedding?"

"Oh, just little things. There're no bridesmaids, and the best man and maid of honor have nicer names. And while there are engagement rings, there are no wedding rings. They have necklaces instead of two colors, the same as the engagement ring, with the names of those married and the date they married on them. And my dress has to be another color than white."

"What? Why not?"

"Oh, we're supposed to dress in the color of our aura or some bullshit like that. Rumiko says that he has to wear silver anyway, since he's a Magus mage and all. He swears up and down that I have to wear black."

"Well, black's not too bad of a color…"

"Just not for a wedding dress."

"Yeah."

"Now you see why I said I'll have trouble finding my options."

"No doubt… Oh, I see, is that why your ring is black and silver?"

"Yep. Black is me, and silver is Rumiko. I didn't know it before, but the inside says 'Rumy and Meg'."

"You're kidding me! Let me see. Hah! You're serious! Why Rumy? I get Meg, but that one doesn't make sense."

"Oh, heh. Way back when we lived in his little shack in Somenolenthe, I started calling him Rumy for short because that's what we were, you know, roomies. I guess it just stuck, though he hates it. That's what's so funny about him getting this one engraved with our nicknames. Hey, this place looks promising."

And so they went in, and Megumi had lots of fun trying to explain to the saleswoman why she needed a black dress. Once it had gotten through, they had Megumi try on various white dresses, telling her to just imagine it black, because they were testing the ones they could order in different colors. She had narrowed it down to about three that she liked before they decided to go try somewhere else.

At the next store, they actually had black dresses, and as Megumi was inspecting herself in the mirror, she started a conversation with Minato, as they weren't distracted with trying to imagine the dress in another color. "So, Minato, has things with Yukina and her school gotten any better?"

"No, not really. She's just getting into fights now." There was something in Minato's voice that caused Megumi to look at her. "What's the matter?"

"I don't know. Maybe I'm just questioning myself."

"About?"

"How much I can't be a mother." Minato ran her hands through her light brown hair. "I've never done this before. Well, you know, not really. My little brother was a piece of cake in comparison to the challenges with Yukina. I have to worry about her because she's a Jumper, and an adolescent, and we're more like sister than mother and daughter, you know? We have more fun than we get things done. I'm just… starting to wonder if I can do this."

Megumi turned back to the mirror, thinking. As she lifted up her purple hair so that she could see her back, she remembered the ball. "Why don't you ask someone to help you? Like Mr. Hory or that one guy you were talking to. I bet either one of them would probably move in with you to help you. Hell, you might even get something out of it."

"Megumi, the last thing I need is to add dating and looking for Mr. Right to my list of worries. And Goat would never do that. He's too goddamn stubborn, you know that. And Genichiro… well, it would be a good idea to ask him for help with Yukina, but it isn't at the same time."

"Genichiro's his name? Why does that sound familiar?"

"He was Tsukumo's best friend."

"Oh! That guy! I remember now, he called you a nincompoop! Gods, it must suck to have your best friend dead… I fell sorry for him and all."

"He also called me a whore and a witch. Megumi… he was the one that killed Tsukumo." Megumi dropped her hair and turned completely towards the seated Minato, lifting up her black skirts. "ARE YOU SERIOUS?!?"

"Yes."

"Oh my Gods… And you danced with him?!?"

"Yeah. Look, Megumi, he feels horrible about it. He's been beating himself up about it since he did it. And I… I forgive him. But I don't think Yukina would."

"No doubt about that one." Megumi stepped down and went to get dressed back into her own clothes. When she came back, she too was combing her hair out with her hands. "You're a much nicer person than me, Minato. If anyone murdered Rumiko, I'm pretty sure I'd hate their damn guts."

"Yeah, but remember who's the one getting married here. I've had a lot of time to get used to the fact that the man I would have married is dead."

"It sounds so mean when you put it like that."

"I know. Just making it a little more clear."

~*~

"That's good, Yurika. You've gotten a lot faster lately. Get back into street clothes and all. It's quitting time." Erina turned off the microphone and they watched Yurika take off her helmet, waving to the observation area above before walking to a door to the side.

Inez smirked. "You've certainly gotten used to each other." Erina glanced back at her childhood friend, the last one she had left. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Meaning I don't know if you're using her as a trophy anymore or not. Congratulations, Erina. You've finally confused me."

Erina smiled maliciously. "There's nothing to it really. We just had a discussion the other day about it, actually. She understands that I'm not exactly serious about her. She doesn't know what she feels about me actually. I think the whole thing is just her experimenting. Why, are you starting to feel jealous?"

Inez sighed, taking off her glasses and letting them hang off the chain around her neck. "Sometimes I wonder if I am, Erina. Sometimes I wonder if I am." She stood from her seat and walked to a corner of the room, glancing at some thing or another. "Did you know that Izumi has been ignoring me?"

"No. I thought she looked highly pissed off at the ball, but that's all I knew." Inez nodded. "Just as well. Well, when I saw you successfully hunt down Yurika, I… felt something. Maybe it was jealousy. Maybe it was just anger. But I know that's it was because of you, not her. And apparently… Izumi did too." She pinched the bridge of her nose, closing her eyes in exhaustion. Erina noticed that the blonde woman had bags under her eyes. "She told me that I had to choose between you and her. A difficult choice that I've been thinking of nothing but since."

Erina crossed her arms. "So why are you telling me this? You didn't choose me did you?" When Inez looked away, obviously embarrassed, Erina sighed. "I'm with Yurika now… but you know how I am."

"Yes. I do."

"I'd throw her away in a minute if I thought I would be getting you back. I love you, Inez. I'm in love with you and you're the only one I ever could be so close to." She stood herself, walking over to where the older woman stood. "In a minute, Inez. I would. Do you want me to?"

Silence. Erina smiled, taking this as a yes. "Fine then. I'll take Yurika home, tell her to pack her shit and go home. You can move back in with me tomorrow."

"No, Erina."

The two words hit the black-haired woman like a truck. She had to step back; the force of what Inez said pushing her away. "What?"

"I said no, Erina. I've thought about this for over a month, and I figured I should tell you first. I choose her, not you. I'm going to call her tonight to tell her."

Erina was at a loss for words. Once they found her again, she narrowed her eyes. "But why her? What's so great about her?"

Inez replaced her glasses on her nose, looking rejuvenated in comparison to just a moment ago. "She's everything I love about you, Erina, and more. She's nothing of what I loathe about you. In short, I'm in love with her, and you no longer. Do you understand, Erina?" Her last statement was in a different tone, as if addressing a child. Erina nodded dumbly, shocked too much to retort to what the woman she loved all her life had just said. Inez nodded back, gathering her things. As she reached the door, she turned back to Erina. "Goodbye."

Erina was left in the observation room alone as the blonde woman left. Even Yurika couldn't get her to snap out of it.

~*~

TBC…

~*~

A/N: Woo. This chapter definitely got some trance. Yay. ^^ Yeah, quite the eventful chapter. We got new relations, some info on Ninlandish tradition, and some closure between Erina and Inez. I'm liking it. Anyway, I know I promised more stuff, and I'm sorry, but it just didn't come up. Next time, I promise. Anyway, more about next time. More random stuff, stuff with Yukina and Minato, the start of some… stuff… and hopefully (read: I ain't promising this one) some more Ruri stuff in regards to her tutoring. All right, you know what I've delivered, and you know what I want, so I'll leave you alone now. Ciao! (I seem to say that at the end of every one, don't I?) 


	13. But not all the time

A/N: Well, here we go. Lucky number thirteen! ^^ Yeah, I'm a dork. Anyway. Yes, my parents in my stories tend to be bitchy, but that's all coming to an end soon, especially soon, considering… yeah. ^^ And I'm glad that I did my job of being positively shocking ^^ anyway… last time! The secrets of Jun's mom and Ryoko's dad… and how they're married! So Junny and Ryoko are all kinds of steps! Whee. Anyway, also, Yurika showed Erina that she isn't just a dumb airhead, Megumi and Minato had some time to bond, and Inez dumped Erina like summer garbage. Whee! Anyway, this time… we'll look into some more messing-with-head strategies, the usual characterization crap, and possibly even a look at the plot, since I'm starting to feel guilty that the plot hasn't, you know, shown up yet. Anyway, let's go!

~*~

For what seemed like the fifth Friday night in a row, Mari found herself doing nothing but watching TV and yelping when her cat made use of her leg as a scratching post. As she watched yet another commercial referring to friends out on the town, she sighed, glancing at her silent phone. She at least should have been on the phone with someone, anyone. But she expected that half the Laichi cast was out of town, as they tended to be on the weekends. Despite her growing to a popularity the level of almost what Megumi had in her peak, she still found herself single, lonely, and bored.

Her thoughts stayed on her amazing co-star, when the Nadesico had mutinied. Mari hadn't known where Megumi had been in all the time when she was gone, nor where she had disappeared to after that encounter with Erina in that teahouse, until Mari had gained the same position of the Gardenia. Now she understood why Megumi had run off, leaving her career as a voice actress in the dust. It was horrendously boring in comparison to even being just a Communications Officer on a battleship, even with no war.

'And now she's engaged to the Emperor of Ninlan. Girl certainly does get it all.' She stood, noticing that her glass was empty, and heading into the kitchen to refill it with soda. She intended to stay up until the infomercials came on, at least. What she didn't expect was for the phone to ring once she had cracked the ice cube tray. She glanced at her phone, a little shocked that it was no longer silent before picking it up. "Moshi moshi?"

"Hey there, Mari-chan!" Mari could not suppress a groan. Despite how bored she was, she was never so desperate as to talk to Saburota. "What the hell do you want, you bastard?" she continued filling her glass of ice before grabbing a soda can from the cupboard, popping it open.

"Nothing, I just figured you were bored, so I called." Mari rolled her eyes as she poured the caffeinated liquid over the ice, watching it fizz. "You're home on a Friday night? I expected you out on a date or at some orgy house or something."

"Well, I was out on a date, but the girl decided she was too much of a prude to let me get full use of my investment."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Mari leaned on the counter, resting her head in her hand while her elbow propped her up n the counter. She hated talking to this guy, but he certainly was amusing sometimes.

"Aw, Mari, you know perfectly well what it means. Don't make me tell you, it'll be like corrupting you." Mari's eyebrows went together as she sniffed snobbishly. "Saburota, I'm not an idiot or a virgin for that matter. So much for me trying to tease you."

"Aw, Mari, I was just attacking you. Don't hate me!" There was a smile in his voice and Mari felt herself obliging to his request. "So what are you doing home now?"

"Sitting here watching random game shows. Ew, didn't even notice how pathetic that sounds. Time to flip channels." She grabbed the remote as she walked back over the to couch, sitting and changing the channel.

"So you're spending a perfectly good Friday sitting at home watching retards answer trivia questions? I guess this is a day in the life of one of the most popular seiyuu of our time."

"Saburota, you're fucking scaring me. I was just thinking that before you called."

"Ah, see, I knew that. I also knew that you were thinking about wild sex with me right after that. With… whipped cream. And strawberries."

"Ew. No. The poor strawberries that were harmed in the making of your fantasy. No, I was thinking about Megumi and… how lucky she is."

"Lucky? How so? Other than being more popular than you, even now with her out of the industry."

"Well, think about it, Saburota. She's almost twenty and engaged, to a really important political figure, no less. I'm twenty-one and I've only had a few boyfriends, none of which have been very serious about me. How the hell is it that she gets so much out of… everything?"

"Hey, I turn twenty-four tomorrow. You think I don't feel a little… put out?" Mari rolled her eyes. "First of all, happy early birthday. Second of all, how can I believe that, with the rate you date girls like mad?"

"Hey now, you think I don't want what everyone else wants? As my parents used to say, 'you'll find the right girl eventually, son.' Well, I'm just looking around really, really fast." Mari was impressed. She always thought Saburota was at it for a quick lay and a slight challenge, not actually looking of Miss Right. "Wow, I'm amazed. I think my opinion of you has suddenly rose a few points, Saburota."

"I'm touched. Of course, a few points above zero is still pretty low." The smile was gone from his voice now, which made Mari's eyebrows knit. "Oh, don't be all hard on yourself. I thought you liked being the Super Ass."

"Yeah, because that's what I am, ne? That's cold Mari. Really cold." Could what Mari be hearing really be a touch of sadness? She had never heard him like this before. "Look, Saburota, I was just kidding."

"Yeah, I know. Hey, I'll call you later or something, okay? This show I like is on." They traded goodbyes and Mari felt herself staring at yet another silent phone. This time though, she only wanted to hear Saburota's voice come out of, if only to make sure he wasn't feeling too down.

~*~

Mari wasn't the only one that received a phone call that weekend. On Sunday, Yurika was the only one at the apartment she and Erina shared. She had had trouble a few days ago trying to snap Erina out of her shocked state, but she did it. However, no matter how much she had tried, she couldn't get Erina to tell her why. The CEO of Nergal was at Headquarters now, going over something or other that had to do with their acting division, of all things.

Yurika found herself watching some random anime on TV when the phone rang. She picked it up and absently ran through what she was supposed to say if she got the phone and Erina wasn't home. "Moshi moshi? This is the Won residence, but I'm afraid if you want Miss Won, you'll have to reach her at her office. Do you need her number?"

"Yurika?" The timid, almost shaking voice on the other end threw Yurika for a loop. After her behavior at the ball, this was one of the last people she expected her hear from. "Jun?"

"Yeah, I'm not like… bothering you am I?" Yurika glanced at the ballet-dancing policewoman on the screen, stretching her legs to give the fanboys a good shot of her underwear. Yurika rolled her eyes and turned the TV off. "No, of course not. Just sitting around and watching TV." There was a moment of silence before Yurika started the safe conversation. "So, what's up Jun? How's things been for you?"

"They've been… okay, I suppose. My mother got arrested for murder, but you know her. I wouldn't have put it past her, you know? And… we found out that she married Ryoko's dad, so we're like… steps now. And there's been some less attractive things going on, but you don't want to hear about that."

Thing was that Yurika did want to hear about it. One thing that she hated about this setup between Erina and her was how she did it in plain sight of her once-fiancée. She knew he still loved her, and probably always will, but she had already moved on. He was just her best friend, after all, and was never anything more. "You and Ryoko? Now that's something I never saw coming. But what do you mean by less attractive things?"

She heard him laugh coldly, something she never heard come out of Jun's mouth and couldn't believe it wasn't from someone else in that house. "Oh, you know, the usual, Yurika. Becoming a total pyromaniac and burning every poem I ever wrote about you, sobbing like crazy, threatening to kill myself but being too chicken-shitted to actually do it."

"Oh Jun-kun…" One thing that she learned from living with the boy was that he could be really… out there when he was depressed. And if he weren't depressed about anything else, if would be about her. And it hurt every time. But it was his anger in his next words that shocked her into really wondering if it was the Jun she thought she was talking to.

"Don't you 'oh Jun-kun' me, Yurika!" His breath went ragged and he struggled to compose himself. "I'm sorry Yurika. I'm sorry. But… Flamma, do you even know what you did to me?" Yurika shook her head, forgetting that Jun couldn't see her. He continued anyway. "You broke my fucking heart, Yurika. No, you broke ME. I even said that to Akito. It's funny isn't it? You fuck me over and I run off to cry on your ex's shoulder. But… shit, I don't even fucking remember why I called you. Fuck."

Yurika felt a tear track down her cheek. It was rather out of line, what she did at the ball. "Jun-kun… I'm sorry. But… we're just friends."

"You aren't even doing my nickname right and you call yourself my friend. It's not 'Jun-kun', it's fucking 'Junny', okay!?" Jun sounded almost maniacal; attacking anything he could in hopes of ripping into Yurika as bad as she had him by just tossing him aside. "You threw me away for whatever you can grab, Yurika. The only person that still loves you. You're such a fucking whore. You're a bitch, Yurika. I've held my peace for this long, and I just have to say it now. You're a fucking idiot if you think we can still be friends after all you've done to me. You've walked all over me, drowned me, crushed me, fucked me over, and still expect me to come begging for more, don't you? Well, I'm not taking anymore of this shit, got it, slut? I've had enough of your bullshit. And I think that's what I called to tell you, Yurika. Goodbye." She now heard only a dial tone as her once-best friend hung up. She turned off the phone and threw it on the floor. She now openly sobbed, going over what Jun had said to her. It was crude and mean, but everything he said was true. She had used him for everything she could and just tossed him away as trash. She was a whore, a bitch, a slut. She couldn't believe the person she had turned into. Throwing her best friend over puddles and stepping on him to cross the street, leaving him in the street to be run over. She had no idea what was going on in his life, and she didn't even know that he had a nickname, a real one, that his friends used on him with love and care. He… didn't need her and made it very clear that she wasn't going to use him anymore.

In Kawasaki, Jun threw himself on his four-poster bed, burying his face in the pillows as he finally let himself cry. How could he be so mean to his best friend, his true love, the one woman he wanted and wanted yet still could never have? Oh, she was anything but all those dirty names his mouth called her. She was still a queen, a goddess, everything in his eyes. How could he even think of saying such horrible things about her, even think such things about Yurika? She was all he had.

And this time, he was the one that tossed her away.

~*~

It was a Monday evening; usually a day struggling through laundry, dinner, and homework was a surprisingly calm time. Minato had been able to fix dinner, which was just hamburgers out of a package anyway, and Yukina was able to finish her homework without too much stress. But there was something Minato had been keeping from her would-be sister-in-law, and she felt that it was time to share it.

Minato balled up her napkin, watching it wrinkle up as Yukina bit into her second hamburger, obviously starving. Minato was just not very hungry, with her thoughts on the task before her. "Yukina… do you remember Genichiro-san?"

Yukina held up a finger, indicating that she was trying to chew and swallow as fast as possible. Once she did so, she grabbed a napkin of her own and wiped her mouth. "Yeah. He was Oniichan's best friend. Real big butthead sometimes. I seriously wanted to kick him once in a while. What about him?"

"Well… I spoke with him at the ball." Yukina nodded, not surprised. "Yeah, I thought I saw you two dancing together. That was one weird sight, you know? Seeing you guys… flipped me out!" Yukina shuddered to add to the effect. "So what did you guys talk about? Me? Oniichan?"

"Well, we talked about you… and Tsukumo. And some other things… Yukina, there's something I have to tell you…"

"Oh, don't tell me! I see how it is… you like him don't you?!" Minato blinked. That certainly wasn't the first thing she expected Yukina to say about this subject. "No, Yukina, let me tell you-"

"No, of course not. Didn't I say don't tell me? Let me guess it! Oh, I know, he likes YOU! Ewwww, I think that's even worse! YUCK!" Yukina stuck her tongue out, thoroughly disgusted with the picture her mind was painting for her. Minato shook her head chuckling. She was certain Yukina would never put her finger on it, so she let the Jovian girl be silly until Minato actually did have to tell her.

"No? Oh… let me think…" she gasped, her face twisting into shock and horror. For a moment, Minato thought she had it. "He wants to take me away from you, doesn't he? He wants to take care of me instead of you. Oh, that rat bastard! I'll give him a piece of my mind! You're like my family now, Minato! We're supposed to stay on Earth together!"

Minato raised her hands up in defense. "Yukina calm down! That's not it! And your language…"

Yukina sighed, calming herself. "I'm sorry for my poor language, Minato. But if that's not it… I give up. Tell me."

Minato took a deep breath. It would have been a lot easier if she had just said it earlier. "Well, Yukina… you know how your brother was assassinated because he wanted peace, and the Jupiterian Empire wanted to continue the war?" At Yukina's slow nod, she cleared her throat. "Well, It was Genichiro that was ordered to… to…"

"…Kill my brother? My Oniichan?" Once Minato nodded, Yukina stood, walked over to the couch, and sat down. She stared at the blank TV screen. "Genichiro no baka killed Oniichan. I know that he wouldn't have done it if there weren't… circumstances. Genichiro just wouldn't murder a friend, his best friend, just because he was ordered to." Yukina leaned forward, covering her face with her hands. "He probably did it because he was angry, because he hated Oniichan right then. And the only reason for that would be…" Yukina lowered her hands and looked at the Earthling woman, a look on her face that Minato had not seen since Yukina had come aboard the ship to try to kill her. Yukina stood up, glaring at Minato intently. "You."

"Yukina…"

"You're the reason Genichiro was so willing to kill my brother. Because you broke us all apart, Earth whore." It was venom that spoke volumes, years of hammered ideals coming out of Yukina's mouth like a train with no brake. But Yukina did not speak any more; she just walked off to her room and closed the door firmly.

Minato propped her head up by her forehead with her elbow. Everything Yukina had said was true. It was she that broke the three apart, causing Genichiro to kill Tsukumo. She did not blame Yukina for being angry with her, but she started to wonder if Yukina was just angry to be angry.

She really wasn't very good at this mother thing.

~*~

"One of Jupiter's greatest military minds during the Lizard War was found brutally murdered in his home on the Jupiterian Space Station Reigetsu this morning. Hi, I'm Anastasia Ball."

"And I'm Andy Suarez. Vice Admiral Kusakabe Haruki was one of the driving forces in the final battle of the war, but was he really as popular with the Jupiterian people as we believed? Drew Evans is live on the Jupiterian Space Station. Drew, after interviewing investigators, is there any new information regarding this incident?"

"Yes, Andy, I'm here outside the home of Kusakabe Haruki, who apparently didn't have as many allies as we thought. He was found beheaded in his bedroom, limbs severed from his body in a gruesome way that he cannot show images of it on screen. The sheer horror of this act has caused neighborhood people to panic and many have already begun moving out, despite the fact that the investigators say this was no common intruder."

"Drew, in our noon report it was revealed that there was no since of a break-in, is this true?"

"Yes, there were no broken or forced doors or windows, which has caused investigators to believe that it must have been some enemy of Kusakabe, hiding in his house until the time came to murder him in his home. However, at the same time, there are no suspects at this time. I'm Drew Evans, Channel 6, Insider's News."

"All right, thank you Drew. Quite a scary story, isn't it, Anastasia?"

"That it is. If anyone has any information, you are welcome to call the JIBI at…"

~*~

Hikaru knocked on Izumi's door twice, putting her ear to it to hear a response. When she did hear the customary "it's open!", she entered, not seeing Izumi anywhere in the room. "Dude, where are you?"

"TV room!" Hikaru walked through Izumi's room and into the area set off by a few walls and nothing more. Izumi was there, sitting on one of the green couches, plucking at her ukulele as she read from a piece of paper next to her, obviously memorizing something about puppies, leather, and grass. Or that what Hikaru could see at least before she moved the paper, sitting in the exact spot where it was, next to Izumi. "Hey, I just thought you might like to see this."

"What is it? I just wrote this one and I don't remember a word of it."

"Oh, it won't take but a second. Calm down, workhorse." Hikaru set her laptop on her legs and opened it. Izumi smiled, setting her ukulele in her own lap. "Neigh, neigh."

"Okay, before I have to make comments about how big your hands would be if you were a guy, tell me," Hikaru opened up a window on the screen, "who does that look like?"

It was some dating website, or some kind of I'm-cute-rate-me website, but it was the picture that Hikaru obviously meant. A woman in her late thirties with blonde hair that brushed her shoulders, somewhat pale skin and rather familiar looking red earrings. It could have been any woman on the street, until Izumi looked at her eyes, which just happened to be a crimson comparable to the ones Izumi saw every morning. A glance at the name confirmed it: Chloe Lamington.

"Hikaru… sometimes I wonder at your mad skills." Hikaru nodded. "I was shocked too. I was starting to wonder if Mom was dead, too, you know?" Izumi nodded, taking the laptop from the redhead. "Wow… I just can't believe you found her… there's no address, Hikaru."

"Oh! That's on this one right here." Quickly, Hikaru opened another window of another similar website. This one had more contact information, including where Chloe lived now. "America? What the hell is she doing there?"

"What the hell is who doing in America?" Ryoko poked her head in the door, which Hikaru left open. Hikaru stood and ran to the door, grabbing Ryoko's hand and dragging her into Izumi's TV room. "Mom!"

It took Ryoko a moment to understand. "Mom… oh! Mother! Be more damn specific, Hikaru, we haven't talked about the mothers in ages!" Hikaru rolled her eyes, but Izumi looked up from Hikaru's laptop to the girl that owned it. "Yeah, that's right. Why did you suddenly look up Okaachan?"

Hikaru sat down on the couch, sighing loudly as if it should have been obvious. "Well, like, last week we just figure out that Ryoko's ass-fuck of a dad married Junny's bitch of a mom, making them all kinds of step-brother-and-sister, right? Well, I figured I'd a least figure out where the only other parent we care to talk about went. Make sense?"

Izumi snorted at the obvious rag on her dead-beat father, wherever he may be. "I guess… but why didn't you look up Mrs. O'Shanty first?"

"Grandmother? I think that's a little obvious. Of any of our parent-things, I'd rather see Mom first. I just… think me and Grandmother would get into this huge screaming match, as per usual, ne?" Izumi nodded. If there was one thing she knew about Hikaru, it's how her grandmother was less-than-tolerant because Hikaru having a Japanese father. Moira O'Shanty of course knew and respected that it was no choice of Hikaru's to be of what heritage she was, but she tried to change Hikaru into a more proper girl, which Hikaru would have none of, obviously.

Ryoko sat on the couch and glanced at the laptop screen. "Hikaru, you found her on the Internet. You can find anyone on the Internet. You can find an Amish hermit on the Internet. I'd be more impressed if you saw her in a grocery store or even on TV."

"Oh, fuck you, Ryoko!" Izumi ignored her two best friends, studying the image of her mother on the screen. She had gained some wrinkles, but there wasn't even a sign of a double chin. Her mother had always been so thin… and tall. Izumi gained many of her looks from her mother, save for her extremely long, dark blue hair. She always believed that was the only thing her father was capable of giving her, despite the seed for life. Her mother was different. She made Izumi everything she was… and if it wasn't her mother, it was the two girls in her room that exact moment. Unlike many girls, Izumi had always had a good relationship with her mother, because for the longest time, she was all she had.

Thinking of the woman on the screen made Izumi's pale lips turn upward. She didn't even think she was saying it aloud, but she whispered, "What I wouldn't give to see her again." Ryoko and Hikaru stopped wrestling on the floor to look up at the oldest of them. Hikaru pushed Ryoko off her, as the tomboy was distracted. "Why don't we?"

Izumi was startled into looking up suddenly. "What?" Hikaru held a hand out to her laptop. "We have her address right there. She's in America, and Las Vegas no less! How big can one city be? We could go there lickety-split, in a shuttle! You know those things are faster than airplanes. We could go anytime we wanted, tonight, even!"

Izumi shook her head, pushing the laptop onto the couch. "Hikaru, no. Look, we'd have to look for her, find accommodations for however many nights we'd stay while trying to find her…" Ryoko crossed her arms, thinking. "Not… necessarily. We've had to stay there before. There's an Air Division UEAF base there. And… the place is loaded with hotels. There're more places to sleep than fleas on a stray dog in a city with no pesticides. We'd find one, easy." Izumi still looked skeptical. "I don't know… I'd feel kind of bad just skipping town, hell, the country without, you know, clearing it through some people. You know, like, the ones we LIVE WITH? I'm sure Itsuki would flip if we kidnapped you and took you to America."

"Oh, let me handle Itsuki and any hairy ape she wants to literally throw at me to get me to stay. Is there any other problem?" Hikaru laid a finger on her cheek, thinking. "You know, I don't think Gai-chan would qualify as a hairy ape. Sure, he may have hair that's bordering Akatsuki's hair length, and he may be tall, but he's not really that big, gorilla-wise. Kinda pudgy actually, but I don't go around pinching stomachs, honest!"

"Yeah, yeah, sure, sure, shut up Hikaru." Izumi crossed her arms, her mouth set in an stubborn line. "As a matter of fact, Ryoko, there is another problem. Tenkawa would fucking kill me if I was to just randomly leave the country. In case you didn't know, Junny cussed Yurika out over the phone yesterday and put himself in a whole new dumpster of depression. Akito and I are the ones that he seems to go to the most, and we're never gone at the same time to make sure he doesn't do something stupid like what I would do. Akito does have a job that requires him to be there, unlike you and I that can just come and go, if you don't recall."

Hikaru stuck her tongue out in defiance. "So we bring Junny with us. The poor boy could use just about anything to stop wallowing in self-pity at this point." Izumi rolled her eyes. "Then Itsuki will want to come, then Gai, then Akito. We might as well take the whole damn house with us, Hikaru. That takes a little more planning than 'hey, we're hopping on a shuttle to America, later!', does it not?"

Hikaru plopped down on the couch with a sigh. "Fine… why don't we just bring it up to them and see if we can do it this weekend?" Even Ryoko had to agree that it was a rather good idea. Izumi sighed, rubbing her temples. "Okay, somebody bring it up at dinner tomorrow or something… because I'm not going to do it. This is causing more trouble than it's worth, I think."

Hikaru rolled her eyes. "You say that now, but when we go and see Mom, you'll be all kinds of happy."

~*~

Ruri tried to stifle a yawn as Ulysses Wells, her tutor, tried to dictate to her about home-row on a keyboard. As her third lesson of the day, she was to learn about computers and the history behind them, as if Ruri wasn't a Computer Operator in the first place. In these mind-numbing lectures, Ruri found herself glancing at the white marks on her hands, if only to reassure herself that they were still there. Also, instead of taking notes in any of her lessons, she just sat and let her eyes go in and out of focus, or written utter nonsense on paper with each word that she could write that came out of his mouth. Glancing at the one she wrote on now, it made no sense either, just like the others. "The is very in business letters you to professional this for to see as more than are."

Annoyed at her utter boredom, she pushed the paper away, propping her head up on the desk. She found a spot on the wall behind Mr. Wells's head to stare at, as if to pretend she was paying attention to the droning blather he was letting free as her thoughts wandered. Her latest escapade had caused rifts to form between her mother and father. She could tell that her mother was against everything that she was, while her father supported her endlessly. It was their opposing views that separated them, but Ruri couldn't help but feel at least a little responsible. But as she remembered exactly whom she was talking about, the pale woman with a cruel streak and the large, dark man with a heart of gold, she realized that there was probably some kind of crack in the bond that was going to rip farther, even if she wasn't in the picture. She was just the spark.

Pretending to take notes again, she began thinking about her brothers. All of them seemed so alike. She could barely ever tell them apart, and she lived with them. The only two she could recognize off the bat were Ariko, for obvious reasons, and Rachiku. Rachiku was the eldest after Ariko, and he was the one that Ruri felt herself glaring at the most. He was the main supporter of their mother, and looked down his nose at, not just Ruri, but Ariko and Omoikane as well. She knew he wanted to throne, and if it weren't for that, she'd gladly hand it to them. But someone who could be so prejudice should not be in charge of a country, albeit a tourist trap and a neutral one.

Peaceland was exactly that, but with recent events, Ruri was beginning to wonder if there was something to the place that was once Denmark, other than it being a large shopping center, a giant theme park, and home of the world's most discreet bank. After all, the media had been hounding her father rather harshly for his opinion on Jumpers before he told them that he had absolutely no problem with them, a statement that her mother refuted to other reporters. She hated them. But Peaceland, despite being a joke of a country, did have some rather interesting resources, which made Ruri wonder what exactly would happen if the country was called out of it's neutrality.

Glancing at the clock on the wall, she realized it was time for her English lesson. Never mind the fact that she was quite fluent. "This is so stupid," whispered she as she got out more tools to pretend to pay attention with as Mr. Wells got out more things to vainly teach Ruri.

~*~

Ryoko stomped on Hikaru's foot as she reached for the tongs for the salad. Hikaru turned to the tomboy with her mouth open. "Aer, Ryoko, that was mean! What the hell did I do to you?" Ryoko twitched her head toward Itsuki, indicating that Hikaru needed to say something to her. Hikaru's brain went blank for a moment. She couldn't remember for the life of her what it was, at all. But as she glanced at Izumi across from Ryoko, she remembered. "Oh! Now I know! Okay, thanks for killing my foot in the process Ryoko." Hikaru cleared her throat. "What do people say about a random trip to America this weekend?"

"They say you're off your rocker, Hikaru. What brought this up?" Hikaru was a little surprised that Gai was so ready to shoot it down without hearing the details. She pouted a bit as she glanced at Izumi. "Izumi… help?"

Izumi wiped her mouth with a napkin before speaking. "Hikaru found out where my mother lives. It happens that it's in America. We'd like to go see her, especially since we were under the impression that she was dead when SM2 was attacked."

"Question? Exactly who is this we?" asked Akito, pointing his fork at Izumi. Izumi glanced at him before both Hikaru and Ryoko raised their hands. Akito's jaw dropped. It was a damn Three Angel conspiracy! Hikaru shrugged, an apologetic look on her face. "Sorry, Akito, but Mom has always been really great and she's like the last parent of ours that doesn't tend to suck." Ryoko nodded. "I lived with her when we were going through pilot training. You think I was still with Dad then?"

Jun toyed around with his salad, not really looking up, and looking positively bored. "So what the hell makes you think that we're going too?" Hikaru rolled her eyes. "Well, Itsuki would definitely either come or we'd have to drag Ryoko from her arms, so she definitely has to come." Itsuki smiled smugly to herself. "I love how well understood I am in the clingy area. And I'm flattered by this as well." Gai crossed his arms. "Okay, so you've got Itsuki and it looks to be a girl's little vacation. Why us?" Ryoko caught Akito's eyes with her own. "Because… of recent events." As she said this, she nodded her head toward Jun, not obvious at all. Akito actually took a second to realize what she meant. Then he nodded slowly. "I see…" Jun looked up and realized that they meant him, rolling his eyes. Gai still looked stubborn. "What recent events? I don't get it."

Akito kicked him under the table, very obvious. "Gai! I think it would be a great idea to get out of the country, ne, Junny?" Jun sighed, but the idea was starting to grow on him. He really thought meeting Izumi's mom, if she was great as his stepsister and her friends were saying. It was really weird for him to think of Ryoko like that, but he was starting to get used to it. "Yeah. I think it's a good idea."

Gai throw his arms up and collapsed in the chair. "Fine, I see how it is. Majority vote, is it? I am so offended. All right, I don't care. Where in America?" Hikaru stood and ran over to the youngest of their number, hugging him. "Oh, thank you thank you thank you, Gai-chan! If it wouldn't make Akito jealous and you yell and be all disgusted, I'd so kiss you, but I won't, okay! Oh YAY we get to see Mom!!!"

"Hey, Hikaru, wait, remember what we said in my room? It requires planning, especially if we do it this weekend, as we had discussed." Izumi silenced her redhead best friend. Itsuki rubbed her lips, thinking. "Yeah, there is that planning thing. Where does your mom live, Izumi?"

"Las Vegas." Jun looked up from his food. "Hey… isn't that where they have that one light that you can see from space?" Ryoko thought for a moment, then nodded. "Yeah… oh don't tell me you're into tourist traps?" Jun smiled slightly, showing to his by-law sister that he in fact was into stupid trivia such as tourism. Ryoko sighed. "Oh Terra…"

"But they also have an assload of hotels and stuff. It should be no problem to get a place to stay," interjected Hikaru. Once Ryoko nodded, Gai sighed, threading his fingers as her propped his elbows up on the table. "Okay, so we can easily get hotel rooms. How long is this little trip going to be and what about the shuttle stuff?"

Itsuki waved a hand. "Oh don't mind him, he's just grumpy because he thought he was a in charge but it was proven that he wasn't. But he has a point, how long is this trip going to last? We do have to tell how long Minato's going to tell people to fuck off, you know?" Akito nodded. "Yeah, and I gotta break it to Miss How Mei and Gareiru-san that I'll be gone." Ryoko scratched her chin. "Well, we shouldn't be there that long, but I think maybe Friday to Monday?" Itsuki and Akito were obviously doing some figures and thoughts their minds. But then they both nodded. "I guess with the girls back they can handle me being gone for two days."

"And I'm sure Minato would be able to handle putting people on hold until they hang up or die for two days. Else we'll let her just take those days off too and put everyone in a sheer state of panic."

"Oh, I'm sure." Itsuki frowned at her near brother. "Jiro, stop being such a bitch about it. I think a nice trip to neon-light-land would be a good idea for you too." Gai crossed his arms again; pouting and looking positively like a spoiled child. "but Itsuki… the project…"

"It's waited this long for someone to cultivate the idea. Frankly, all we're doing is just looking over them and giving them mindless praise. We should give them a few days to work. Calm down, Jiro. It's two days, not a year and a half. I think at this point we need a vacation, if only to help with the transition. And I know the transition has been horrible for you, little brother."

Gai continued to pout until he felt something brush against his ankle. He immediately identified the molester as Akito's bare foot, a body part that often molested the one of two more tender areas of his body, the other being the hollow of his throat. Beginning to blush intensely, his gaze traveled to his lover, almost to ask what the hell he was doing. A look at Akito's persuading smile and somewhat hooded eyes told Gai all that he needed to hear about this development. "If you agree, you'll certainly enjoy it tonight, and if you don't go with it, so help me, I don't care if it's your house or not, you're sleeping in the sitting room with absolutely no pity sex." Gai whined at the stakes the Martian now set before him. But he was no fool. "All right, all right! We'll go to Las Vegas on Friday… Just not that damn couch, I can't even sleep on that and we haven't done anything in four days because you've been too tired!" Hikaru cheered once again, but Akito could not help but feel eyes on him, particularly Jun's and Ryoko's eyes. "What?"

"How…"

Akito sighed. "I'm sorry, but I've mastered the female art of manipulation. I'm really sorry." Izumi, Hikaru, and Ryoko glared at him. "DAMN YOU TENKAWA!!!"

~*~

TBC…

~*~

A/N: Wow… some trance, mostly not. Oh well. Well, I think it's obvious where I live. ^^ Why did I pick Vegas? Well, I know at least some of this town, so I'll be able to be a little more detailed than usual. Besides, I've wanted to do this thing with Chloe for a while. I love Chloe. ^^ Anyway… fun stuff, fun stuff. Next time… Actually, I have some plans. Some issues between Yurika and Erina? And we go back to our lovely little Jovian boy-o Saburota and some insight on him, not to mention look back at Kaguya. A little bonding among the Nadesico girls, the pilots get into town and set themselves up while Hikaru and Izumi look obsessed, and maybe even a little look into Nergal stuff. Looks like a lot, so it may roll over, remember that! Anyway, you know the drill. We like comment cards about how you enjoyed your stay in Mind-fucks-ville. Ciao! 


	14. Meet the parent again

A/N: Well, I've waited long enough for people to recognize what I dork I am. Anyway… I'm almost appalled at myself now. Dear god. Anyway, with no comments to reflect on, we'll just begin recap. Last time, the Three Angels found out where Izumi's mom lives and convinced everyone to go with them this weekend. Also, Jun cussed out poor Yurika, Mari began to feel sorry for Saburota in a friendly way, Minato told Yukina about Genichiro, and Ruri began wondering if she was the main reason why her parents are continuously at each other's throats. This time… We look at how things are really going with Yurika and Erina, glance into the sick and twisted mind of Saburota, check up on Kaguya, Ruri calls yet another house that obviously loves her, and the pilots pile into a hotel room in the town in which I live. Okay, woo, let's a go.

~*~

Those that lived in Yamada Manor were not the only ones that had things to speak about at dinner that night. Despite it being a small meal of sandwiches and soup, it was one of the first times Yurika and Erina had had dinner together since Erina had been shocked into near silence, and not with Erina being somewhere else and Yurika being at home. It was a very silent meal as Yurika slowly peeled the crust off of her bread. She didn't like crust. She didn't like silence either. In fact, she didn't like the fact that she and Erina barely were together, nor did she like the fact that Erina seemed to be drifting away.

She decided to force up a conversation, any conversation. She remember just Sunday and how she had not told Erina about it. "Jun called the other day." No response. Yurika continued. "He seemed really angry about this whole thing. But I'm not surprised… he doesn't seem to understand that he's just a friend, not someone that I can love like that." Still, no answer. Yurika pushed on. "I really felt bad for hurting him, especially after all he's done for me, but now that I think about it, maybe it was for the best." A slight smile from Erina was enough for Yurika to give herself a pat on the back. That was at least something.

Still, silence enveloped them again and Yurika found herself wanting something, anything to talk about. Suddenly she thought of something. "You know what's great, Erina? Kaguya has stopped randomly attacking and harassing me in the halls! Now you don't have to try to get rid of her or something! Isn't that wonderful? But I wonder what made her stop…" All Erina did was take another bite of her sandwich. This time, Yurika's will fell, and she sighed, giving up. This was how it had been since last Thursday, almost a week ago.

Yurika, even with all the time to herself recently, could not figure out what had happened that day that would have caused the strong-willed Erina to be burnt down like this. It really was just not like her. One minute she was still the arrogant woman that told her to take off the experiment suit that they used to track her progress and get ready to go home, the next she was in shock, as if someone had slapped her across the face. Something happened in that observation room before Yurika made it up there, and she just could not see what it was.

'The only other person in there was Miss Fressange.' Kaguya could not have run in there and left, Yurika would have seen her on her way up. Yurika strained to remember all those that she had seen coming from that direction. It was that hard, for there was only one. 'Miss Fressange.' In a flash, Yurika knew that's what it was. She had forgotten, but she had known, due to the gossip about the ship, that Erina and Inez were once an item, for a very long time, in fact. Could it possibly be that Erina was cheating on her, or was Yurika jumping to conclusions again, the same way she did that led to Erina's cousin's death?

Erina stood from the table abruptly, picking up her dishes and leaving the room to go deposit them in the sink. She came back immediately, however, and dug in the closet for her coat. "Yurika, I'm afraid I have to go back to headquarters. There was something I need to take care of before I left that I just remembered. Don't wait up."

Yurika's aqua green eyes darkened. Not exactly the best thing for Erina to say right after Yurika suddenly forged doubts. "Erina… does this have anything to do with Inez Fressange?"

Erina turned her gaze to Yurika. Yurika immediately regretted her words. Erina's dark eyes were full of guilt, sorrow, and a tiny bit of anger that Yurika knew was not directed toward her. It seemed to take ages for Erina's lips to form one single word that they both wanted spoken. "No."

~*~

As a mercenary, albeit a secret one, Saburota found himself all to often sitting in the food court of a local mall waiting for whoever needed dirt on someone else. Recently, they've all been information trips: who killed Kusakabe and why, was there some sort of evil plot about. Frankly, he was getting sick of it. There was no way of finding out this stuff, and if he got one more of these commissions, he was going to pull out all of his hair.

However, this one in particular was yet another information trip, but it was one he could stand. "Oh, my boyfriend works for blahdeblah and I think he may be having an affair, oh please help me!" These were the more common ones he got, but, this time, the girl didn't show. Sighing, Saburota picked up his cup of soda and walked out of the food court. Another reason he came here was to people watch. He had to do something while he was waiting for these idiots to show up. But it was even more interesting to be among their number and actually hear snippets of their conversations. He didn't know why this was so interesting, he just did.

As he wandered, he began to think of how absurd his occupation was. There was nothing for someone of his like to do except look for information, even with all of the anti-Jumper tension. There really wasn't much he was skilled at, though he had been taking some math classes at the local university. He did occasionally do some random jobs like deliveries for extra money, but for the moment there wasn't a need for it.

Saburota found himself in a video store. This wasn't so bad; he wanted to look for a movie that involved pirates. The history of them and such were a secret interest of his, but it was not this that he found. Instead, he came across some videos of "Magical Princess Natural Laichi". He picked up the one labeled as the first and looked at the credits on the back. Sure enough, there was Mari's name. It was a little odd to know the person who was the voice behind the protagonist of the country's most popular anime of the year.

This, of course, made him think of the woman who was the Communications Officer on the first Earth ship he was chosen for. He had just spoken to her a few days ago, the day before his birthday, in fact. She really had a knack for insults, which was something Saburota respected. But she actually hit a bit below the belt with what she thought of him. She saw him a common pervert that chased girls and did nothing else of importance. It was really kind of rude of her, but it made Saburota stop and think. He often did go and see some throwaway girls, if only to reassure himself that he was still appealing to the female population. See, Saburota wasn't really looking for a permanent girl.

He already knew which one he wanted, and she was the only name on the video in his hands that he recognized.

Saburota did know when the hell he had officially gained quite a fancy for the voice actress, but it was there. He wasn't sure why, either. She was very plain looking. Maybe it was that they were comrades, but he didn't find himself wishing for Kaguya or Erina. But, as he thought, there was something about her… maybe it was just the fact that she never gave him a definite no punch like Erina, but never went along with it, like Kaguya. She was not easy and he knew this. But she was always there and never did give him a "go the fuck away you asshole" like everyone else. And she always seemed so jealous of the girls he carried around.

He sighed and shook his head, taking the video up the counter and buying it. 'And here I am, going to go home and watch this just so I can hear her voice, or see why she's so bored on Friday nights when she's so popular. I really am pathetic.'

~*~

Kaguya smiled at the business party she was at, seeing both Erina and Yurika within range. She caught Erina's eye as she raised her glass to them, sipping it. Fear flashed in the CEO of Nergal's eyes as she led the former captain of the Nadesico away. Kaguya could not hold in a giggle at the scene before her as she continued to sip the contents of her glass.

Business parties were always so few and far between, but Kaguya enjoyed them as much as she enjoyed the time between them. After all, something had considerably lifted Kaguya's spirits, despite all the regret associated with what made her happy. Stalking out Erina and Yurika at these things was always a hilarious task, but it was for one reason and one reason alone that she did this. She wanted a moment, any moment, alone with Erina. See, for some strange reason, Kaguya was able to convince Erina to go back with her, despite Kaguya knowing she didn't break it off with Yurika. There were many days when Kaguya saw Yurika and just wanted to tell her about her affair with Erina to see her be crushed, but that, she resolved, would be highly cruel. Kaguya didn't like being cruel, but she would if she had to.

After all, there was a lot more to it than just being a side for Erina. While Yurika was slowly being led away from the project, Kaguya had reentered it, receiving higher Jumper training that would increase the probability of successes. Their latest test, if one would call it that, was a complete victory. After all, it's not everyday that one is able to Jump herself and another to Jupiter and back using a single Chulip Crystal.

Seeing Erina once more, she smiled. If only they really could tell Yurika exactly what Erina's been doing after hours, exactly why Kaguya had been laying off of her, everything that was going on. But Kaguya seemed to have to deal with letting Yurika live in the dark with this set up she and Erina had forged.

~*~

While on the Nadesico, Ruri had never been one for talking. She, Omoikane, and Megumi may have been the most common users of the wide-scale Emergency Line on the Ship, but she was the only one to actually use the Emergency Line for emergencies. So it was very off to realize that Ruri had been the one most common of the now former Nadesico crew to actually call other members. But it you were to remember that her time on the Nadesico had in fact made her long very much for those she was now isolated from, her behavior about the phone would most likely not be very surprising.

Ruri did little to recognize these facts as she flipped through her disgustingly pink address book, a gift she received from those she was blood to for coming home, for a specific number. Finding it, she dialed it quickly into her white phone and listened to it ring several times with no visible expression of any kind. But once there was a voice coming from the receiver, she had to frown, as it was exactly the wrong person she was calling, as only two lived in the house halfway across the Earth that she was calling. "Moshi-moshi?"

"Hello, Yukina. This is Ruri. If Minato is available, could you please put her on the phone?" It was short, brisk, and maybe even a little rude, but it was dismissible when one remembered that both girls tended to be jealous of the other and did not really have a strong relationship, despite the fact that Yukina sat nest to Ruri as Assistant Communications Officer and that they were both very close to the woman that sat on the other side of Ruri while on the ship, Minato.

"Oh well… I guess she can talk… but if you want to talk to her, hang up and call again. I won't answer it." This, considering that it would send a man of lesser mind reeling, puzzled Ruri. She frowned more deeply. "Why can't you just… give her the phone, or tell her that I'm on the phone for her?"

"Because," began Yukina, stubbornly and frustratingly matter-of-fact, "that would require me to talk to her and I don't want to do so any more than I absolutely have to. So just go ahead and hang up and call back. I won't answer it so that she gets it." This explained it better, but Ruri knew that there was most likely more to the story than just this. After all, there was no real reason for Yukina refusing to talk to Minato other than they had a fight, the subject of which was unknown. Ruri knew that it was absolutely none of her business, and felt very foolish at the words that came out of her mouth just then, but after years of listening to Yurika say many of the same things, was also not very surprised. "Why are you two fighting?" Again, very brisk, very short, and quite possibly, very rude.

There was a pause. Ruri could almost see the face Yukina was most likely making. It was a face that Yukina often made just before coming up with a plausible lie, but was easily spotted because of the face. It looked something like a grin, only very humorless, and looked more like an "oh shit I've been caught" face, which is exactly what it was. It, in fact, was a display of Yukina trying to align all of her teeth with their top or bottom mates perfectly, and trying to show whoever was looking in her direction that she actually could do so, which she couldn't, with her slightly crooked teeth in a crowded mouth. Finally, Yukina spoke; causing Ruri to narrow her eyes at the fact that Yukina would attempt something so stupid. "Um, would you believe me if I said it was school?"

Ruri paused. It was obvious that it was a lie, and how it was delivered certainly didn't help in dispelling this knowledge. However, there was something that seemed to astonish the silver-haired princess. That something was how absurdly believable her lie would have been if it had been fabricated a little faster and if she didn't make that face. Ruri was not one to lie very often, but the art was considered common knowledge with all of the time she spent on the ship. This caused waves of nostalgia to break on the shores of her innards. Pushing the feeling aside, as it was not exactly very important at the moment, and gave a very firm, yet effective and obvious answer. "No."

"I didn't think so." A sigh. "Minato… told me something. Something I… didn't particularly need or want to hear. It… had to do with Oniichan." Ruri's eyes widened without focus as she went over everything she knew about Yukina's older brother that was not obvious to those that had been in the room when he died. Captain Shiratori Tsukumo of the Superior Male Forces of the Holy Jupiterian Empire was twenty years old when assassinated for attempting peace talks by Kusakabe Haruki, Vice Admiral of the same fleet, who was also found murdered brutally in his home a few days prior. But… Yukina should have already known all of this and more. Was there more to this story that was relevant? "Well?"

"She told me that Genichiro was the one that killed my brother. Oniichan's best friend. One of the only people I thought I could trust killed that last family I had!" Ruri blinked, obviously not listening to the blather that Yukina was ranting about. Instead, she delved into Omoikane's files, specifically those that held the reports made on the Nadesico by Yurika, Mr. Prospector, Uribatake, Mr. Hory, Ryoko, and Ruri herself. Both Yurika's and Mr. Hory's, as they were the only ones with reports to make that were present at the event, stated that it was Kusakabe that killed Yukina's older brother. Of course, it was very possible that they were not in the total right mind at the time and could have been easily mistaken. But Minato was there as well. She had not been obligated to make near constant reports as the others, but certainly this information would not just now be coming to light if she had known then. "How did she know?"

"I don't know, I guess he told her at the party." Ruri remembered seeing Minato dancing with someone, but she had not realized that he must have been connected with Tsukumo, despite his obvious Jupiterian look. "I suppose that makes sense. You're angry with Minato now for keeping information from you. But… you haven't spoken with her since she told you?"

"Well, no." Ruri thought for a moment. Something wasn't quite right with this situation. "Does she know that you're angry because of this, and not talking to her for the same?" Silence. This was not the pause before a lie, but rather the pause of thinking before answering. Yukina also often did this, but never really realized that the differences between the two kinds of pauses were easily detected.

"Well… I did say that the only reason he would have done it was her but… I guess not." That was it. It didn't take Ruri to figure out this. "It's obvious, Yukina. You have to tell her why you've not been talking to her if you want her to get it." It was so easy to say it, but while she was saying it, she couldn't help but think of her mother, the woman who very obviously hated her because she was a Jumper, an Electronic Fairy, and an independent thinker. But she did not think her own reciprocation of these feelings, as they had been growing for quite a while, was just as obvious to the subject of this hated and anger. Still, Yukina spoke, jarring Ruri from her own thoughts.

"Hey… I should do that. That's a pretty good idea. No wonder you're a genius, Ruri." Ruri could not help smirking smugly at this. "It does not take a genius to figure out how people work."

"I guess not. Hey, um… You called to talk to Minato… do you still want to talk to her?" Ruri paused. She had nearly forgotten why she had called in the first place before she remembered that she had just a moment ago decided to, to be put very bluntly, practice what she preached in terms of her mother.

"No. I've… figured it out on my own. Goodbye, Yukina."

"Okay, talk to you later." Ruri hung up the phone, sat for a moment, then got up and left her room. She was determined to put her own good advice to use.

~*~

There was little time for the hotel room to enjoy its peace. It, in fact, had just been evacuated of the housekeeping inspector not thirty minutes ago, and was just settling into its newfound emptiness when the door suddenly clicked and was pushed open, letting those who stood before it fall in. And it didn't take the hotel room, and it's partner, who too was being opened up for more patrons, to realize that this particular group was not going to let this peace live in the least bit.

Itsuki, in fact, was the calmer one at the moment, not to mention the first one in. She twirled the key on its chain as she walked into the room and sat on one of the beds, flopping backwards on one. "Oh, finally, relief after that hell!" Bags and luggage, carried by both her lover and her near-brother, soon surrounded her. "Itsuki, you're a total bitch," complained Gai, collapsing on another bed, heaving. "You could have at least taken one." Ryoko said nothing, but went to the door that joined the two rooms and knocked. "Hello, Hikaru?" The door opened quickly, almost hitting the tomboy.

Hikaru walked into the other room and grabbed her duffel bag. Heaving it onto her shoulder, she regarded the winded man and the two women. "Okay, what's the room situation? There's two beds in each." Akito also walked into this room, throwing himself on the bed that Gai sat on, resting. After bouncing once and lying there for a moment, he sighed. "Oh yeah. Gai," he poked his lover with his foot, already shed of shoes and socks, "this is so our bed." Gai glanced back at Akito, who now had rolled over on his side and had his hand propping up his head. "You are an absolute dork."

"I'm not going to say anything to that because it would give me nightmares when I'd be doing things much more fun than sleeping. Ryoko, we're not in here, are we?" Ryoko stuck her head in the room that now seemed to have Hikaru's, Akito's, Jun's, and Izumi's shoes and socks in, but not much else, save for Izumi and Jun themselves, who decided that they should also come into the crowded room. "Yeah, I suppose we can take one of the beds in here. Anyone got a problem with that?"

Hikaru sat on the bed Itsuki was still lying on. "Okay, so those that are obvious have chosen their rooms. Frankly I think we should have had a most-likely-to-have-sex-on-this-trip room and an everyone-else room, but that's just me. Izumi, be my bed partner, please?" Izumi, now sitting on the desk across from what had already been claimed as Gai and Akito's bed, rolled her eyes. "That sounded so bad, Hikaru. And don't even say anything, I know, you already know. But which room are we hailing to?"

Jun, stretching his arms out, mumbled, "Why don't we just make a girls' room and a boys' room?" Unfortunately, this smart-aleck remark was well heard and it sounded very good to those present. In a jumble of bags and people getting up, not to mention the throwing of shoes and socks into what was now known as the boys' room, people finally were situated and Jun began to wonder if he would have rather had to sleep in the same room as the champions of random sex. At least there he probably would not have to hear as much shit, despite the fact that they were free to walk both rooms, the doors between wide open and most likely not to close until night fell, which was not for a few hours yet.

In fact, most of the shit he heard was from Akito and Hikaru. Izumi was far too busy figuring out everything there was to be figured out about her mother with the phone book, the Information Line, Gai was far too busy going over Izumi's English dictionary trying to figure out how to ask for ketchup and the location of the bathroom, Ryoko was far too busy asking Gai to look up things for her, and Itsuki was far too busy practicing what little English she knew. Akito frankly did not care to try to bone up on his own crappy English, and Hikaru was already fluent. Jun knew enough to get him around, even if his pronunciation was horrible. Hikaru sighed, lying down on Akito and Gai's bed. "Aer, you'd think these people would remember shit from high school, ne, Izumi?" Izumi, parked at the desk, nodded slowly, not paying much attention. "Praises go to Okaachan and Mrs. O'Shanty for us." Hikaru nodded slowly, then poked Jun in the butt, because that was the closest body part to her hand. He didn't even jerk, just turned to look at her. "What?"

"So, when exactly are you ever going to come to terms with the fact that you too have homosexual tendencies like everyone else in the room, Junny?" Jun, having heard this subject come to light far too many times to count, slapped himself in the forehead. "Flamma-dammit, Hikaru! How many times are you going to ask that until you actually accept that the answer is NEVER!?!" It was true that Jun was the only one of them that was completely straight, but it was also very odd, so Hikaru did sort of had a point in asking as often as she did, or at least the other members of their group thought. Akito, who had just been sitting with nothing to do as he refuses to attempt his English again, grinned evilly. "Oh, but Junny, never is a very long time! Are you completely sure?" Jun buried his face in his hands, obviously trying to hide a blush. "Gai… make your boyfriend stop flirting with me…" he whined.

He was meant by a horridly pronounced, yet still understandable English statement, that is, if Jun could understand English, which he couldn't. "I am very sorry, but I am not supposed to make him not do so or be angry." Hikaru laughed, realizing Jun's peril, then translated it to those with lesser knowledge. Jun groaned loudly. "Flamma… what did I do to deserve this garbage? What did I do? How the hell did I get myself into this? These situations?"

"It's because she loves you. Now, Junny, I'd like to know exactly how sure you are… if you've never experimented?" At this, Akito grinned even more evilly, if it was even possible, and reached over to thread his fingers through the chin-length hair that belong to the one who was adamant. Jun shivered immediately and then threw himself off the bed, running over to the closet-like thing just before the bathroom. "Gai… tell him to stop it! Please! I'm begging you here!" Any that could actually see his face burst out laughing, which was predominantly Ryoko, as he blushing very, very madly. Gai gave yet another nonchalant English statement to counter this. "Oh, you are begging, you say? How delightful." This time, not even Izumi could hold in the giggles. Hikaru and her best friend were both pounding whatever surface they could reach at the time. Once the waves of laughter died off, which did take quite some time, Hikaru refused to translate this, as did Izumi. Instead, Hikaru poked both Itsuki and Ryoko. "Oi, those that are trying desperately to remember shit from high school, I'm getting hungry. Wanna come downstairs and get food with me?"

Gai looked up, hurt. "Why didn't you ask me…?" Hikaru rolled her eyes. "You're fine. Besides, if I take you, I'll laugh far too much and snort soda out my nose. It's not a pleasant experience, so you can stay up here unless Izumi takes you." The three girls put their shoes on and promptly left the rooms. Akito glanced at Izumi. "So… what did he say?"

"Oh, just some really crappy garbage that will get him kicking in the crotch if he actually attempts to use that. Okaachan will love it." Gai closed her dictionary and tossed it on the bed. "Izumi, your mom speaks Japanese right? I really don't want to get kicked, if you know what I mean." Akito nodded. "I don't want him to get kicked either."

"Well, that's obvious." Jun had reappeared out of the closet, making Akito grin again. He just couldn't keep the joke in. However, he was just too slow against the master. With a completely straight face as she browsed through the phone book again, Izumi commented as if talking about the weather and how lovely it was, "Oh, Jun, I see you've come out of the closet. How nice." Jun growled and pointed at all those left in the room, looking absolutely crazy. "Flamma-dammit, I'll kill you all!"

~*~

Hari leaned far back in his chair, stretching his arms out and groaning at the lovely cracking he felt. Sitting in one position all day tended to make one sore, so this was acceptable in entirety. But once Hari sat back up, he saw someone he didn't expect to see. "Oh, Miss Fressange!" He immediately stood, ordering mentally the computer before him to save his work and shut down. Inez bowed her head in greeting then entered the room more wholly, glancing about. She frowned, but Hari did not know why. The room wasn't in as much disarray as one would think. "Lapis isn't around, is she?" He shook his head. "She went with Mr. Mann to investigate some of the network going down in the south end. May I… ask why, ma'am?"

Inez nodded, smiling slightly in thought. She removed her glasses and looked at the now slightly blurry figure of Hari. "I'm sure you know about the problems with Kaguya, Erina, and Yurika, do you not?" Hari nodded quickly. He may only be a child, but the drama was hard to miss. Inez continued, "Well, both of our Jump subjects are far too… entwined with Erina. This must not leave this room, Hari, but I know I can trust you. Thing is, I don't think I can trust Erina. There's just not enough explainable about some of the things going on, you know what I mean?" Hari didn't, but nodded anyway. It really wasn't his business to ask. Inez knelt down to see him face to face and placed her hands on his shoulders. "Hari, would you be so kind to consider become a Jump subject as well? Of course, I understand that you'll have to clear it through your parents, but I want to see… if we can get a subject going for my own research, not at all deep with Erina."

Hari nodded. This was… big. Inez obviously knew that it was big. And she had tried her damnedest to make sure Lapis didn't know. It made Hari wonder if there wasn't something trying to separate the company into two entities. "Miss Fressange, is there something going on with Miss Won?"

Inez smirked and stood, placing her glasses back on her face. "Only that I have no idea what's going on in her mind right now, and that worries me. So," her voice returned to the business-like voice she usually used around the compound, "you make sure it's okay with your parents, and we'll start as soon as tomorrow if it's cleared. I don't want anyone other than those necessary to know about this, particularly not those allied to Erina." Hari opened his mouth to ask, but Inez stopped him. "I don't know, but I've got a feeling that something is up." Hari had to agree with her at that. It didn't take a genius to realize that there was some sort of new, secretive, almost crazy air over the company and those in it. Inez bowed her head again. "Bye, Hari." She left, leaving Hari to contemplate her thoughts on just what was going on around there.

~*~

They had to take two rental cars, and Hikaru and Izumi had to be the ones driving, though Hikaru was a bit rusty on her own driving, as they were the only ones that could read every sign, despite the fact that Ryoko had lived here before. Izumi led the way, however, and they found themselves in what should have been a nicer area, but a far too commercialized one.

There were tons of small businesses that all looked as if they were on their last legs, not to mention some random large buildings to make up for it. But the one thing in most abundance were they were at the moment was apartment buildings, which worried Hikaru a bit. There was a large one behind a convenience store and another really big one across the street from a school. It was almost incomprehensible where Izumi's mom's apartment would be. But when Izumi turned right at a church, Hikaru was very confused.

They continued along the road until Izumi took a sharp left into a complex, leading the other car into a parking lot. She slowed considerably, trying to see the numbers on the doors through the alarmingly large trees. They looked as if they had been growing there for years. But, finally, she pulled into a space and got out, pointing to the other car at a first floor door.

There was silence as Izumi stood at the door, took a deep breath, then knocked. Hikaru stood directly beside her, her hands fidgeting as she bit her lip, the others just seemed to stand around on the porch or the grass, but didn't not seem to be as calm as they seemed to try. Izumi was, of course, an important part of the group, they all were, and they all just wanted to make sure she was going to do this okay.

The door opened suddenly, showing a thin, pale, blonde woman to those that had not seen a picture of Chloe Lamington before. She didn't look sickly, but more as if this was her natural state and was very easily distinguished by it. Her crimson eyes light up and a shocked smile broke out on her face that often saw many smiles. She shrieked, "IZUMI!" before hugging the girl who's name she called, almost choking her. "Oh my God, Izumi, you're really here! I was so worried! How are you? Are you well? Let me take a look at you." Chloe then held Izumi at arms length, inspecting her clothing, which was casual, but slightly nice. She wore a red dress shirt under a black light leather jacket, reaching down to her thighs, covered with her black cotton slacks. The dark colors accented how pale Izumi was and her dark blue hair, while the red shirt brought out her visible eye. Itsuki had really gone to town with Izumi to make her look nice. Chloe hugged Izumi again, but then saw Hikaru standing right next to her. "Oh, Hikaru! It's so nice to see you!" Hikaru smiled and clasped her hands behind her back. "We really did miss you, Mom. Ryoko," she turned to the left, "come say hi to Mom!"

Ryoko pushed herself off the stonewall she was sitting on and scratched the back of her head, smiling. She said, in very vivid Japanese, strange as both Hikaru and Izumi talked to Chloe in English, "Um, hi, Mother. Nice to see you." Chloe nodded to the other girl that had lived with her before they all seemed to disappear into thin air, then noticed that they had others and that they were standing in a doorway. She then waved them into the living room, stepping out of the way. She switched from English to Japanese as well, so that she could be understood completely, "Well, don't just stand out there, you people I don't know yet, come on in! I sure hope I have enough sitting space…"

She didn't, but was only down by one seat, so Jun relinquished rights to a chair and sat on the floor like the sweetheart he was. After Chloe had gotten people either the coffee, tea, or soda they wanted, she sat in the chair that Jun had given up. She nodded at Izumi, to get her to start introducing people. Izumi cleared her throat then stood from the other chair. She pointed first to Itsuki, who was sitting on the loveseat with Ryoko. "Okay, Okaachan, that's Kazamo Itsuki. She's one of the two leaders of Mugendai Industries, the big name in missiles and robots. She's…" Ryoko took over for Izumi, obviously noticing that Izumi felt it wasn't her place to say. "…My lover, too, Mother." Chloe simply nodded, then Izumi continued. "Also, she plays a mean violin and is a pilot just like us." Chloe gasped for a moment, then covered both cheeks with her hands. "Oh dear, I forgot about all of the new things about pilots! Are they all true?" Itsuki nodded, holding up her right hand to show Chloe the silver markings there. "Magus's Calm, Music Mage." Hikaru leaned back on the couch. "In fact, Mom, it was our ship that discovered Ninlan and magic."

"Obviously there's a lot I've missed, but we'll get to that. Go on, Izumi." Izumi nodded, then pointed to Akito, also on the couch. "That would be Tenkawa Akito, the first person to Organically Boson Jump on Earth, at least as the records say, and the last male Martian left." Akito rolled his eyes. "Because of course that's what everyone remembers me as. Might I remind you, Izumi, that I'm also the cook? Nice to meet you Mrs. Lamington." Chloe shook her head. "No, it's Miss. I'm not married. But just Chloe would be nice."

The man sitting next to Akito slapped the back of his head. Akito glared at him, and Gai sighed. "Izumi told us this shit already, dumbass! Oh!" He remembered that he was sort of in Chloe living room, then scratched the back of his head. "Sorry about this event, Chloe," he said in very bad English. "I was unaware of your presents in the place and forgot what is around. Excuse me." Chloe giggled at the pathetic attempt. "It's okay, I know Japanese. I taught Izumi, actually. And you are…" Gai realized he hadn't mentioned who he was. "Oh! Yamada Jiro, but I like my nickname Gai Daigoji better. I'm the other person in charge at Mugendai." Hikaru pointed at the two men next to her. "They're sleeping together, Mom."

"Aqua! What the hell is the matter with you, Hikaru? Shit, you just tell Izumi's mom that like that…" Akito growled, then sighed dejected. Chloe pointed at the two of them, just like Hikaru. "So what are you two…" She tapped her own right hand to show what she meant. Hikaru slapped her forehead. "'Kito's an Ice Mage and Gai's Lightning. And Ryoko's Earthquake, Izumi's Tides, and I'm Wind." The Three Angels held up their right hands, showing their different colors. Chloe nodded then looked down where Jun sat. "And what's your name?"

Jun, used to being ignored or even forgotten, started as he noticed that Chloe was addressing him. "Uh, Aoi Jun. I, uh, I'm the odd man out." Izumi smacked her forehead and was seriously tempted to kick him, and made all motions to do so, causing Jun to scramble to his feet. "Okaachan, Jun's Ryoko's new stepbrother. Their parents got married and we just realized that, like, last week. Strange twist of fate, actually…" Chloe nodded. "So that's how YOU got inaugurated into the Three Angels' little group… But what about the rest of you?" Ryoko shook her head. "No, Mother, he may have been the last, but he joined a group a while ago… We all met on the Nadesico. You know, the ship we were commissioned to go on? THAT'S why it's a strange twist of fate."

Itsuki stretched her legs out, feeling their smoothness before she put them down immediately, satisfied. "Well, I suppose we have a monster of a story to tell, don't we? But how did you know that the girls' nicknames were the 'Three Angels'?" Chloe laughed, an interesting laugh that somehow didn't resemble Izumi's hysterical giggle in the least bit. "I named them that! When they were in Pilot's training! They were all living in my house then, you know. My girls… the Three Angels of Satsuki Midori 2." She smiled softly, as if reminiscing. Hikaru broke this by leaning forward and speaking. "Speaking of your girls, Ryoko and I aren't the only ones of lesbian tendencies… Izumi's with Inez Fressange, one of the biggest scientific names since the discovery of nanomachines." Izumi picked up a pillow and threw it in Hikaru's general direction, but missing and hitting Gai instead. "You bitch, I thought I told you want I wanted to break it to her!" Chloe gasped. "THE Inez Fressange? The one that unlocked the secrets to Boson Jumping? You're with her romantically?" Izumi nodded slowly, a blush starting to creep over her pale cheeks. "Yeah… she said that… She was attracted to me mostly because of my intellect…" Chloe collapsed in the chair, sighing contentedly. "I am so happy, Izumi… you've come so far. You really have."

Hikaru nodded, then checked her watch. "Hey, Mom, how about we tell you all about our Nadesico adventures over some food? I'm starved, man." Chloe bit her lip and glanced down. "Well, Hikaru, I didn't expect to see anyone for a while, so I don't really have enough food or even the money to pay off a bill at a restaurant…" Itsuki stood and flapped her hand. "Nothing to it, Miss Chloe. Jiro, you and I will pay for food, ne?" Ryoko nodded, pressuring Gai to agree. "Yeah, I remember this pretty great Chinese place over in Paradise. Kind of expensive, but their food is GREAT!" Gai didn't need much persuading, as he hadn't had lunch like Hikaru had, and he too was hungry. He nodded and they began leaving the small apartment.

Izumi left last with her mother. Once Chloe had locked the place up, she wrapped an arm around her mother's shoulders. "You know, Okaachan, I really did miss you. I could think of nothing else this week. I was… a little scared that you were dead." Chloe squeezed Izumi's waist. "Oh, a whole bunch of us in Tobikirino escaped in shuttles. Even Moira made it, so I'm sorry I kept you worried." Izumi's eyebrows knit. "Mrs. O'Shanty?"

"Yeah, she lives in town, didn't I tell you? Up by MLK, in the north part of town." Izumi's jaw dropped. "Oh man, Hikaru is going to shit… You're not going to tell her at dinner, are you?"

Chloe's face turned serious for a moment. "Izumi… I have to. She loves her, you know?" Chloe got into her green car and left Izumi standing there. Izumi folded her arms as she walked to the rental car that she was driving. "Fat chance," said she, though she wasn't sure if her mother meant that Hikaru loved her grandmother or vice versa. Both ways didn't seem very realistic.

~*~

TBC…

~*~

A/N: Well, that was that. We have finally met Chloe. I noticed that my voice changed a bit in here. Sorry about that. And I didn't give very much description other than what I knew. Sorry about that too. Anyway, enough apologizing… Next time, we have a lot more pilots-in-Vegas stuff, then… some other stuff. Most likely some random Uribatake stuff, and maybe some other stuff too. I'm not really sure what yet. But, dear god, this story seems to be long. We haven't even gotten to the more important shit yet, though there have been little bits and all. Anyway, you know the drill. Ciao! 


	15. Leading up to?

A/N: Well, here it is, the fifteenth chapter. You know what I realized? This story has already surpassed "To Die or Not to Die" in length. This is no small thing, nor is it a big one. After all, I already figured this, especially since the plot has barely made its presence known. So we'll, no doubt, surpass "Love never Dies, Hatred never Sleeps" as well. I think it's mostly because it's taken so long to get people situated in their non-Nadesico life, which is really important for the plot and all. Anyway, since there isn't anything to say, let's go on to recap. Last time, the pilot crew met Izumi's mother, Chloe Lamington. That's slightly to close off the Nadesico thing, as I said, while everything else… Kaguya made it clear to the readers that Erina is very much not faithful, as they are having an affair behind Yurika's back. Yurika is not completely clueless, but suspects Inez instead of the right person. Inez, on the other hand, senses that something is going on in the company, and tries to get a subject not related to the Kaguya-Erina-Yurika tree issue, Hari, to be a Jump subject. Meanwhile, Saburota's career has been made clear: he is a mercenary that is spending his time investigating Kusakabe's murder far too much. In any case, this time… many different sorts of things, most importantly we finish up the pilots' weekend in America. Let's go then.

~*~

"So, Mom," began Hikaru, taking a drink of her tea to soothe her throat after the large amounts of talking and arguing those from the ship had done to get the story out from all angles, "how the hell did you get off the colony in time? I was so worried that you were dead and all…" Izumi's visible crimson eyes hardened and flashed to meet her mother's identical eyes. Chloe knew that her daughter wanted her to not say it, but she had to. "Well, Tobikirino was pretty far from the attack, so we had lots of time to get away from the colony in time. Otherwise," she glanced at Izumi, "they may have left her behind…"

Before Hikaru could inquire as to whom Chloe meant, Gai made a complete ass of himself. "Um, no offense or anything, Miss Chloe… But you mentioned that you aren't married?" Akito narrowly missed impaling Gai's hand with a chopstick because the younger had moved it just in time. "Aer, you're really into stabbing aren't you? Shit!" Izumi rolled her eyes. "Thank you, Akito. Was just about to do that myself."

Chloe mimicked the motion. "Izumi, you know that it's not that big of a deal. I can tell about it. Okay, see… in high school, I was… foolish. I slept with my boyfriend and lo and behold, asshole didn't use a condom. But we couldn't really afford an abortion, you know? So I just had her… Gave her her father's family name as a stab towards him and a Japanese name because it made more sense." Jun bit his lip. "So… Izumi was a mistake?" Izumi ran a hand through her bangs, eyes closed. "Yes."

Chloe reached over to brush Izumi's hidden cheek. "Best mistake I've ever had though, you know?" Izumi looked at her and couldn't help smiling. She picked up her cup and sipped from it. "So, Okaachan, what are you doing now? Job-wise, I mean?"

"Oh… Just the nighttime cashier at that convenience store across from the church… At least I don't have to deal with kids ditching class. Moira's been helping though, bless her soul. Trying to help me get into some classes at the community college here."

Hikaru began choking on her food, dropping her chopsticks with a clatter. Izumi leapt up to try to help her, but she just didn't beat Gai who helped Hikaru dislodge the piece of chicken from her throat. After getting a glass of water and settling herself down, she finally gave an incredulous look to the woman that was practically her own mother. "GRANDMOTHER is HERE?!?!" Izumi gave a look to Chloe that screamed "I told you so", which was met with a parental "watch yourself" look. Chloe nodded. "Yes, Hikaru. Moira lives in North Las Vegas. Fairly nice house too. Not the monster she had in Tobikirino, but much better than my dump."

"Uh… Um… HOW?"

"We were both on the same shuttle. Some went to the Moon, some to Japan, but a lot came to America for some reason. We just decided to settle here. Please, Hikaru, stop looking so shocked. I planned on telling you eventually. I think I might even call her tonight to tell her you're in town."

Hikaru buried her face in her hands after pushing her plate away. "Aer, please, no… Anybody but her…" Itsuki sighed. "Man, not another pissy relative, is it?" Izumi shook her head. "No, Mrs. O'Shanty isn't horrible. I actually like her a bit. But…"

"she fucking hates me and she should because I'm a failure." Chloe's jaw dropped at Hikaru's muffled words. "Hikaru! She does not hate you! She loves you! Look at me, I'm the worst failure here, I bet, and she's taken quite a liking to me!"

Ryoko shook her head. "Mother, she has never liked me. She likes Izumi because she's the 'right kind of person' for Hikaru to be friends with. She thinks I'm an idiot and a bad influence and you know it. But you've got to admit, Hikaru, she sure as hell ain't my father, you know?"

Jun crossed his arms, reminded immediately of his mother. "Yeah… his wife too. Think of that. But maybe we should get off this subject before we have to deal with clean-up charges." Once Ryoko noticed what he meant, the slight breeze going through her hair, she stood and went over to Hikaru, consoling her best she could, as she had never had a talent for the job.

Chloe didn't notice. "Clean-up?" Akito nodded, prodding what was left of his food. "Yeah, Hikaru's the strongest magically of us and all, you know? Upper level and everything. But supposedly upper levels are supposed to have really tight control, but she has the biggest habit of breaking out. Or, uh… letting her magic just do whatever."

Itsuki smirked, thinking over the others. "Yeah, she and I are about the only ones that can actually let that happen though without devastating results. Especially not Junny or Ryoko. Damn siblings could freaking murder the house."

Chloe gasped, remembering something. "It never occurred to me… you all live together?" Gai scoffed and raised his hand. "Oh, absolutely. My house, actually. Miss Fressange lives in Hiratsuka anyway, and Hikaru and Jun are still oh so single, so it all works out. By the way, Izumi, why don't you live with Miss Fressange?"

Izumi glanced up from Hikaru, whose hyperventilating was dying down. "Um, because we're really bumpy right now. I suppose when we get back I'll have a letter waiting for me telling me whether she's stay with me or pine forever over Erina. Her old girlfriend and best friend, Okaachan," she reminded.

"I still can't believe Yurika. I mean, what the fuck was she thinking? Just because everyone else seems to be turning into a lesbian she thinks she can too? Where have all the straight Martians gone?" Itsuki began tying her napkin in knots, preparing to throw it at Gai so he would call for the check. Jun groaned and made motions as if he were to claw his eyes out, but didn't actually do this. "Stop talking about that bitch…"

Akito barked out a laugh. "Oh, so it's 'that bitch Yurika' now? Whatever happened to 'that goddess Yurika'?" Gai rolled his eyes. "Akito, if you think that's bad, you should so have heard us when we were bashing you and Yurika when you were going out. And damn, thank Aer you didn't fuck her, otherwise Jun would have been forced to fucking roast you!"

"Don't you dare make jokes about that, Yamada Jiro!" shouted Jun, standing up and jabbing his finger in the youngest man's face. "You don't know what it's like knowing that you killed that man the woman you love loved and then know that she's sleeping with his kin, most likely just to reach for him!" Jun sat down again, looking a little sick. "I ruined her happiness…"

"Oh, we're just a barrel of laughs tonight, aren't we? Hikaru flipping out about her grandma, Jun flipping out about having killed someone, Jiro being a total ass… Ryoko, punch him later will you?" Itsuki threw up her hands in frustration. Chloe surveyed the group. "I'm supposing it isn't usually this odd, is it?"

Izumi smirked. "Oh, it's this odd, all right. Just never this depressing."

~*~

Despite her performance the night before at dinner, she did take the address Chloe gave her and opted to go to her grandmother's house alone. Of course, Izumi and Ryoko insisted until they realized that Hikaru need to achieve closure with the woman that took her in after her father committed suicide, that they were so sure that Hikaru hated, and let her go by herself. She drove up to the gate and a communications window appeared, prompting her to state what she was at the community for. "Moira O'Shanty," she said, clearly, yet with dread. Suddenly, the gray figure that was there before, asking whom she was to see turned into a figure that she thought she possibly wouldn't see again. She was about sixty-five, wrinkles lining her face, which was somewhat ashen with age. Even her once vibrant hair was streaked with gray in the fading, thin red. The only things that seemed to never change, though, were the hard green rocks that were her eyes. Hikaru looked away from the window as she began to speak. "Ah, Chloe told me you would be coming. Well, I might as well open the gate for you. You know which house it was?" Hikaru nodded. She had looked it up on the Internet after they returned to the hotel. The window disappeared and the green gates opened, causing Hikaru to take a deep breathe before venturing in, turning right immediately and driving to the end of the road.

She parked her car next to the rocky yard and noticed that Moira was already standing in the door. She climbed out silently, brushing some nonexistent dust from her purple skirt before walking up the driveway. She stopped in front of Moira and said nothing, much like when the pilots' repressed personalities came out. She didn't like to be quiet.

Moira put her hands on her hips, a little put off by Hikaru's silence. "Well, aren't you even going to say 'hello', Hilary?"

Hikaru fidgeted. Moira always called her that. She swore that's what her real name would have been, but Hikaru didn't seem to believe her. Nonetheless, she complied. "Hello, Grandmother," she said softly, and in English, knowing that it would please her. Moira nodded and held the door open for her. Hikaru stepped in, taking her shoes off out of habit. The front room seemed more like a furniture store, with a small sitting area and a fancy dining area. Moira, instead, led her to the next room past the stair, which seemed a little more lived in. Hikaru sat down onto one of the red recliners slowly, almost afraid. Moira went straight to the kitchen. "Would you like something to drink, Hilary? I do have some soda. I expect you still have that caffeine addiction, do you not?" Moira came back with two cans of soda. Hikaru took up, but stayed quiet as she sipped it.

Moira narrowed her eyes, knowing that Hikaru came for something, but did not feel comfortable at trying to bring it up. "Chloe spoke with me on the phone last night. Told me quite a bit about your… adventures on that battleship. It's amazing that you, Izumi, and Ryoko got to stay together." Nothing. Moira was beginning to wonder if Hikaru was paying attention. "She also told me about Izumi and Ryoko's romantic interests. I knew that Ryoko would most likely be homosexual, but Izumi suddenly going in the same direction was a bit of a shock. To each their own, I suppose. I may be old-fashioned, but that certainly has never been a problem with me, especially when you said that you felt very deeply for Izumi. Do you still?"

Hikaru shook her head, finding her voice. "No… she's still my best friend, but she's with Miss Fressange, and I… I've got a crush elsewhere." She covered her mouth, wondering why she was telling her this. Moira nodded. "Things do change. I'm surprised you haven't come to that conclusion yet." Hikaru looked up, meeting Moira's eyes. It was obvious what she meant. Hikaru looked away. "But… you never told me why. Why were you so mean to me?"

"Idiot! I was never mean to you! Look at Ryoko's father before you say that, Hilary! I was merely strict, but supposedly for all the wrong reasons."

"What reasons would those be? If it's because I was a failure to you, then I think it was a legitimate reason. But I'm not a failure anymore, Grandmother. I'm not and you can't say that I am anymore." Moira chuckled, causing Hikaru to narrow her brown eyes. "You still haven't gotten it. It had nothing to do with you and everything to do with your mother. You haven't inherited much from her, save your fiery spirit and hair."

"Turbulent, Grandmother. I'm not Junny, for Aer's sake." She glanced at her hand, watching the swirling shades of yellow in her nanocontroller. Moira looked at it as well. "So you are what they've been speaking about. All three of you?"

"Yes. Our friends too. Is… that bad?" Moira shook her head. "None of my business. But, as I was saying… your mother… ah, Lara, she walked her own path. I was too foolish to let her do as she pleases and was too hung up on tradition. When she married your father… we broke off almost all ties, remember that?"

"And then she had me… And then they both died when I was older, and I had to come live with you."

"That isn't the whole story. She was angry with me and decided to drop almost all of her heritage as a slap in my face. She named you, gave you your Japanese culture, and made that your mother tongue. So when you came to me, I had to help you embrace your Irish culture as you did you Japanese one. It was a pain to teach you English, but you knew that, as the one that had to learn. Your accent is still horrible to this day."

"I'm trying…" Hikaru whispered, her eyes cast downward. She grew up in a household that spoke only Japanese, then learned English, but was on a ship that predominantly spoke Japanese and lived with many that spoke only Japanese as well. Her accent was bound to be horrible. When she said this, Moira laughed. "Oh, I knew that, of course, Hilary!"

"You still call me Hilary. My name is Hikaru."

"Hilary would have been your name if… your mother and I had not had our differences. She loved that name, after all. But I suppose she decided to name you that at your father's suggestion, as a different take on it or something. I'm not sure. But once I was informed of your name, I knew Lara's intentions. Hilary is what your name should be."

"But it's not, Grandmother. It's not. That was all in the past and it cannot change. My name is Hikaru. Amano Hikaru. Not Hilary Amano or whatever you say it should be. This is just how it is and reminiscing won't change it." She paused. Wasn't she just going against herself? Everything she knew about her grandmother was in the past and won't change, but the present may be different. She looked at Moira, who nodded. Hikaru pounded her fists on her knees. "Damn you, Grandmother! You trickster!" She smiled though, for the first time since she arrived, seeing Moira in a bit of a different light.

"Oh yes, something else you got from our side. Now, I suppose you have a lot to discuss with me. Waffles or pancakes, Hil-" A glare from her granddaughter stopped her. "I apologize. Hikaru?" The name sounded foreign on her lips. It wasn't odd for her to call Izumi and Ryoko by their real names, but she always called Hikaru Hilary. It made the young woman smile brightly, playing a bit with the gusts that came from the vents in attempts to cool the room. Doing so made her feel more comfortable. "Whatever's better for you, Grandma."

~*~

"Are you sure you need me here? I could just tell everyone that comes to the door to go away or something…"

"No, no, Minato," chided Itsuki, sitting on Gai's desk as he unrolled the plans on the floor. "We need you here because we'd like you to have some understanding as to what's going on so that you aren't confused with our correspondence and all. That may be the problem here, ne, Jiro?" He didn't get to answer because Uribatake jumped onto Itsuki's words. "There is nothing wrong with it! I don't even know what you're talking about here, Kazamo!" Itsuki covered her ears and began humming. With a flash of silver, Uribatake's voice was gone and he couldn't even attempt to speak. "Only until you calm down and listen to what we have to say. And it's ITSUKI, you old fart. Jiro, if you would?"

"I'd love to. Problem is, our request called for very flexible distortion fields, not to mention strong. What we didn't see coming was the fact that distortion fields work both ways. Just a little negligence, I guess."

"If we had Miss Fressange or even little Miss Crimson on the development team, we would have had this pointed out early. But this project is very confidential, as you both know. I'm a little surprised you didn't catch it, Uribatake-san, especially since it's your field lance that's going on the damn thing." Itsuki snapped her fingers once she was done speaking and Uribatake felt his voice come back. "So just turn off the distortion field for a moment, let it pass through, then put them back up! Simple as that, right?"

"No… there's also the other field, the field of the enemy to think of, right? If it can't even pass through friendly fields, what's to say it'll go through those of the enemy?" Gai clapped his hands together, bent his middle and ring fingers down in Pentakami prayer and bowed to Minato. "Thank you oh wonderful Haruka-san. Itsuki, the floor is yours."

Itsuki hopped off the desk, straightened the back of her skirt, and pushed a button on the desk. A window popped up showing plans for missiles. "Distortion fields are supposed to work against that kind of thing, as we all well remember, but not so well against regular weapons. That's why the Jovians started experimenting with conventionals as the war progress. And with it, the need for stronger distortion fields. So, with everyone negating everyone else's fields and not really thinking about what those incoming missiles might do, I suggest that we let some kind of fill-and-shoot thing be put in the frame so that it's in the missiles and easier to get by their shields, ne?"

"But we've noticed a problem with this too," interrupted Gai, and another window popped up, charts of the strength of distortion fields as the war progressed. "When this all started, a conventional attack could possibly destroy a ship or vessel, even if it was protected with shields. As it progressed, however, shields got stronger and the need to get rid of them became insanely large. If anything were to happen now, a missile wouldn't be much else but a blip on a scanner and not felt at all."

"But I created the missiles that could make a hole in a distortion field. And if they're shot from the Aesti, they will pass right through its own field as it would other missiles. I get what you're saying. So I'm designing those too?"

Itsuki nodded, closing both windows. "I'll lend a hand, of course. Missiles are mine, after all. But what we need is for them to be destroyed while making the hole, and send out whatever's in it, wind, fire, what have you, at the target. Think it can be done?"

Uribatake smirked then jerked a thumb at his chest. "Itsuki, I KNOW it can be done. But the commission's gotta go up. This is a hell of a lot more than just a frame you're talking about here." Gai nodded, fingering his hair. "Oh, absolutely. Hell, we'll fucking hire you if you want. We just need this done, especially with current events and all, if you know what I mean…"

Uribatake stood, nodding. "Absolutely. I'll draw up some plans and bring them in tomorrow. Keep that job slot open, ne?" He left the room, leaving the two in charge with their secretary, the latter of which was beginning to wonder some things. "Um… if this is just about colony Aestivalises, why are you so intent on increasing both defense and offense?"

Itsuki smirked, grabbing the newspaper off the desk, and threw it in Minato's lap. "Third page in." One that page, Minato found a huge article about the murder of Kusakabe. No surprise, as it had been the hot topic in the news lately. But this article was different. It told of a new lead. They had no idea who it was yet, of course. But glancing over the article, she could tell that it was based loosely on the fact that there was no sign of a break-in at all. But the title was clear: "Kusakabe's murderer suspected to be a Jumper".

Minato gasped, "Holy shit," before looking back up at the purple-haired musician. She shrugged. "It certainly doesn't help the pro-Jumper efforts, now, does it? At least, if worst comes to worst, we'll have something new to work with."

~*~

Ruri was playing a game of Kanji Tetris on Omoikane when she heard her door open and close. She unplugged the controller cord from Omoikane's bare spine and looked over her shoulder to see one of her blonde brothers. A glance at his crossed arms, defiant face and a size just a tiny bit smaller than Ariko's told her it was Rachiku. She glared at him for a moment before ordering Omoikane to plug himself in and shut himself down, in other words, take a nap. Only once Omoikane's electric blue eyes went blank did she stand from the floor and face Rachiku. "Something for you?"

"He really does listen to you. You have more power over him than I initially thought, Oneesama." Ruri's amber eyes hardened, looking much like the ancient sap which her eye's color resembled. "I asked you a simple question, and I demand you answer it, if you are so rude as to enter my room without permission, Rachiku. What do you want?"

"So mean, Oneesama. Okaasama won't like to here that you were rude to me. She wants to know if you're done with your homework."

"You can tell her I said she can take her homework and stuff it. I did that boring stuff while the tutor was rambling on like the idiot he is. I don't care what you tell her, anyhow. She is no mother of mine." Rachiku glared at her with blue eyes, so much like Ariko's, but so different. "But she is, Oneesama. You're her blood, just like the rest of us. She may not have given birth to you, but-"

"Get out of my room, Rachiku. Immediately. She is not my mother, no matter what you say. You may not believe this, Rachiku, but you people are not the only ones that I could have come to when I got off the Nadesico. That crew is my family, and you can ask either Omoikane or Ariko that, and they will answer you with the same."

Rachiku made motions to open the door, but continued to stay. "That robot is a demon. Your demon, and the only thing keeping you from tossing away what you are. And Oniisama has been poisoned by you, your demon, and whatever else hoodlums were on that ugly battleship." He turned and left the room with that, obviously over the line. Ruri's eyes flashed once more before lifting her dark blue skirts, charging over to the door and shouting out of it, "Those are my idiots and Yurika is more of a mother to me than she will ever be!"

~*~

Rumiko was just going over the final guest list with Megumi when a certain person they had not seen in recent weeks charging into the throne room. Rumiko's jaw dropped and he ran over, those idiot guards of theirs trying to stop the man. "No, no, it's all right. Gods be damned, Igadosu, what in the five hells are you doing here?" The stupid guards let the poor old man go and Igadosu Toccata straightened his silver and sky blue robes before shaking hands with Rumiko and hugging Megumi, then falling into a customary bow that made Rumiko roll his eyes. "Igadosu, you're above me, all right? I may be emperor but you still taught me everything I know. So come in, sit down, tell me what's been going on. Oh, Meg, can't we give him his invitation now?"

"Actually," began Igadosu, stopping the woman from digging through the pile of envelopes for the one labeled with his name, "I'm here to begin my campaign. For your fellow assist, that is." Megumi started for a moment, then turned to Rumiko, narrowing her blue eyes. "Wait, campaigning? People who want to be the assist have to campaign for it? Why didn't you tell me this shit, Rumiko? The wedding's in less than a month!"

Igadosu laughed. "Oh, no, that's not it at all, Megumi. You're free to pick whomever you want. But sometimes people want you to know they want the spot. That's what campaigning's for. You can still get your best friend to do it, if you wish." Megumi sighed, settling down again.

Rumiko narrowed his golden eyes. "But, Igadosu, I was going to have you be the one to marry us though…" Igadosu shook her head. "No, Rumiko, I'm not a priest anymore, remember? I'm not qualified. Just a magic teacher. I'm sure you could get one of those other people at your church to do it. No, I want the fellow assist position." Rumiko nodded. "All right, consider it done. You got the spot. I'll get Mythos to marry us or something."

Igadosu let out a bark of laughter. "Mythos?!? He's still around? I thought he threw himself over the wall!" Rumiko smiled and shook his head. "No, he's one of the Inner Circle Priests at the Head Church. Trembles and stutters nowadays though. I think the Gods did something to him that messed up his mind."

"If you guys excuse me, I'll go write a letter to Minato telling her I want her as maiden assist. You can talk about me in private." With a smile, she stood from her kneeling position, shook out her black skirts, then left the room to a side study. Rumiko smiled and did as requested, or rather, ordered. "She's great, ain't she?"

"I've been saying this for the longest time, Rumiko, you just now caught the ball. And I know, it really isn't my place, but as someone that had to teach you a lot about everything… where do you see yourself in ten years? Kids? Still Emperor?" This question caught Rumiko off guard. The last time he thought this seriously about his future was when he was still Igadosu's apprentice. Being Emperor of an entire planet didn't do much for his mindset, especially since the only changes he was bringing was bringing back the Pentakami and bringing Ninlan slowly up to speed with technology. They were working on telephones at the moment. Even then, it didn't seem all that real. Even his proposal to Megumi didn't seem all that real. He knew he needed her and loved her, and that was most of his motivation.

"I… still see myself with her. I don't know about children yet, or even if I'll still be in charge over this planet, since things change, you know? But… I know we'll still be together. Otherwise, and pardon my language, but I will be in deep shit."

Igadosu smiled, making his laugh lines stand out. "That's all I really wanted to know. The future doesn't happen the way we always want it. After all, we wanted to believe that the bringing of the prophecy would be a bad thing, but look at how good Ninlan is now in comparison to before, even a few months ago. We have electricity and running water. We have Jump shuttles to Earth, her colonies, the Moon, Mars, and Jupiter. We'll soon finally have telecommunications and maybe soon even computers. We've made great advancements in a short amount of time, and all because of you. Well, and the Nadesico of course."

"And Megumi. I can't talk to people or run a planet, Igadosu, you know that. I'd be lynched three days in this place if it weren't for her." Igadosu laughed. "That is true, you do have a tendency to be an annoying brat. I have to commend her for being able to live with someone like you." Rumiko was not amused, which of course amused Igadosu even more. "Oh calm down, Rumiko. You've always been so stubborn. It'd be a crime to see you any other way. That's how I know you two are perfect."

"Thank you, Igadosu… I think."

~*~

Hikaru was interrupted from watching a tape of Gekiganger in the parlor for the fanfic she was going to will herself to write by a phone landing in her lap. She paused the tape and looked at Izumi, who glared at her. "I've fucking called you three times. It's yours." She left the parlor and Hikaru stopped the tape completely and put the phone to her ear. "Moshi-moshi?"

"Jesus, Hikaru, what the hell were you doing? I finally get off my ass and call you and you don't even answer the phone? What's up with that?" Hikaru smiled and lied down on the couch. "Hello, Uri-P. I was watching Gekiganger. You know how I get when I watch it…"

"Yeah, yeah, all into it and the world just stops. So, what's up? Heard you went to America last weekend."

"My, my, gossip does run fast. Yeah, we went to go see Izumi's mom. Man, that was fun. But I guess you heard that I saw Grandma too, huh?"

"Actually, I heard about you flipping out about it. But you're buddy-buddy with her now?"

"Yeah, we cleared the air. But anyway, how've you been?"

"Oh, so people aren't talking over there? Well, Ayuko and I are officially not married anymore."

"Ouch, okay, before I open my big mouth, is that a good thing or a bad thing?"

"Column A and Column B. Actually, it's really odd. Most of the furniture's gone and it's really weird with the house empty and quiet all the time. I've been pissing the neighbors off by turning the music and TV up really loud."

"As it should be, said I with the bad hearing that didn't hear Izumi until she chucked the phone at me. But you know me, I'm happy if you're happy."

"Thanks, but you can come off it."

"Oh, bite me. This calls for a change of subject. Turned into the Crazy Cat Man yet?"

"Crazy Cat Man? No. Soon though. Anyway, sorry I haven't been calling or emailing or coming over or whatever."

"Don't worry about it. We've both been pretty busy. Doesn't mean you're off the hook though."

"Fine, how about I fix this then. Since we have seen each other in ages, how about I take you out to dinner?" in Tokyo, Uribatake had to pull the phone away from his ear as Hikaru had shrieked, loudly. "So, I'm guessing that's a yes?"

"Uh, um, no. Not a yes. At least for this week. Busy."

"Busy? Busy doing what?"

"Well, I have to have enough time to create a lot of drama for it, you know! Besides, I'm glued to the phone."

"Not according to Izumi…"

"Shut up, Uri-P! I, um… Am waiting for confirmation on the first installment."

"Your manga? Are you serious?"

"Yeah. But they said it will take a couple days, you know?"

"All right, fine. You win. Week from today, okay?"

"Absolutely."

"So why are you watching Gekiganger then, if your awaiting confirmation?"

"Calm the nerves, go back to my roots, whatever, you know?"

"Makes sense. Now what about this drama you keep referring too…"

"Oh, shut up, Uri-P, you're making me blush!" A laugh. "Well, I suppose we should stop talking or what will we talk about a week from now?"

"Whatever happens between now and then, I would assume."

"But what if nothing happens?"

"Oh, stop being a dork, Hikaru. See you next week."

"Wait, when?"

"How about six? I'll come get you. And you better look nice or I'll just go by myself."

"Asshole. Six. Next Thursday. Be here or I'll get someone to kill you."

"Certainly, I insist. Bye, Hikaru."

"Later." Hikaru hung up the phone and realized that Izumi stood in the doorway. She frowned. "You're putting him off again." Hikaru sighed. "Well, you know how important this is to me, Izumi…"

"But I also know how much he means to you. Hard to get isn't sexy, Hikaru, you know that."

"Yeah, yeah… But I just don't want it to go wrong, you know? I want to see how far this can all go before it hits the fan."

"At this rate, it'll hit the fan before the fan's even turned on. But to each his own, I suppose. Do what you will." With that, Izumi left Hikaru to her own thoughts. Hikaru chewed on her lip, then turned her tape back on. She let her mind be swallowed by the story of her favorite anime, but something stayed in reality. It was a thought. The only thing this thought had to say though was "Why can't life be easy like anime?"

~*~

"So, do you think he's really all that messed up?" It came as an odd question to Akito when he was frying the bacon for sandwiches. He gave his boyfriend, who sat in the breakfast nook drinking a soda, a strange look. "Oh, Junny?"

"Yeah. I mean… If I were him, I'd need some serious therapy by now. He killed a guy, the woman he loves goes lesbian, his bitch of a mom marries Ryoko's bitch of a dad, not to mention that he has that repressed thing going on. Hell, I'd be doing a lot more than setting random, worthless things on fire." Akito couldn't help but nod. "That's true… I mean, there is only so much that Izumi, Ryoko, and I can do. Or anyone for that matter. Frankly, his life sucks, I suppose. But at least he has us weird folk to keep his mind off of it. Though I'd be a little weirded out if one of the girls became a sister. Seriously."

Gai laughed. "I don't think I'd mind having Izumi as a sister. Itsuki already like one to me, so she wouldn't be so bad either… But you don't have to worry about it, right? Your parents are dead, just like a lot of the rest of us here. And you're full-blooded Martian, so…"

"Yeah, that's definitely odd. Yurika's parents were both born as Earthlings, but my parents were both born on Mars too. Kinda crazy." Akito began putting more strips into the pan, careful to not touch it and fry his finger along with it. He glanced about. "Gai, do me a favor and rip some lettuce off, would you?"

"Sure." Doing little things like peeling potatoes or setting up water to boil didn't bother the residents of Yamada Manor. Akito was also getting used to having to give orders, with him almost completely in charge over the girls at Peaceful Days, which was anything but peaceful nowadays. Gai pulled a head out of the refrigerator and started pulling off good pieces and placing them on a plate. Akito rolled his eyes and ordered Gai wash his hands, the pieces he picked off, and the head before continuing.

"So… Let's pretend the parents aren't dead for a minute." This was weird for Gai to say, so Akito repeated his action of the strange look. "What is up with you today?"

"Nothin'. Just hypothetically. What would your parents say about me, eh?" Akito slapped a hand to his forehead. "Gai… Why? I don't know. I don't remember. They died when I was eight, you dork." Akito glanced over his shoulder to see Gai raising his eyebrows and waving his hand. He growled, then sighed. "Fine. I don't know, Okaasan would probably be all… 'I'm okay with it, honey,' but Otousan might be a bit pissed. Then again, I'd be shocked if either of them actually cared. They were always so busy. So," he gave an evil grin, "what about yours, eh?"

"Oh Aer, I knew you were going to say that. You know them… 'Why aren't you marrying Itsuki, Jiro?' And then I'd have to throw Itsuki out of whatever closet she would have had." Akito snorted. "Itsuki, have a closet? Since when?"

"Since music school, I guess. Her parents never knew."

"Really? I thought it would have been obvious."

"Well, maybe they had a clue. I don't know. I just know she was at pilot's school, then suddenly music school. Whatever. They just would be really pissed."

"At least we don't have to deal with that, do we?" Akito fell silent after saying this. It seemed really cold and rude for them to be talking about their parents like this. Akito had a long time to come to terms with the fact that his parents are gone, but Itsuki and Gai only had a little while, since their parents died when the war started. It was almost as if he was talking out of place here, or something.

"Gai… if they were alive, you wouldn't break up with me, would you?" This caught the youngest pilot off guard and this time Gai got to shoot Akito a strange look. "No, why'd you ask?" Akito smiled. 'That's all, I suppose. I really don't know… what's coming over me.'

"Nothing, just hypothetically."

~*~

TBC…

~*~

A/N: OH MY GOD I WROTE SOMETHING WHILE UNDER WRITER'S BLOCK OH MY GOD- ahem. Anyway. Yeah, I guess this one was just weird… But that's okay. Anyway, stuff happened that will lead to more stuff… more stuff than you can guess. Anyway. Next time, more touching on things, Uri's and Hikaru's going out for food, and even more touching on things. Meg and Roomey's wedding is coming soon! ^^ Anyway, I'll let you guys do what you do best (and you better do it this time!), so ciao! 


	16. What a disaster can lead to in the long ...

A/N: Well, last one was okay… this one will be better. God, this slow crap is pissing me off. Oh well. I'll get over it. Okay, so it didn't suck so much. All right. That's good. And yes, we do get to people we haven't chatted with lately. Anyway, last time… last of Pilots in America, we had a little look on the business brains that are so very hidden in Itsuki and Gai, Rumiko and Igadosu got to bond for the first time this installment, Uribatake set up a date between him and Hikaru, and Akito subtly asked Gai how devoted he was, that little bitch. ^^ This time… boy, I sure hope you remember that Erina isn't faithful! Anyway… we chat with those we haven't chatted with much yet, things are patched up, we go back to our main couple who has been oh so ignored, we have that date to cover, a letter that tends to send people into a frenzy, and one thing that seems so meaningless, but is so very not. ^^ Oh god, I hope we don't go over… or else we'll have to cut something out or whatever… Anyway, that's that and this is this.

~*~

Fredrick was guilty, that much Ariko knew. Or he at least felt so. Ariko didn't blame him. He knew he felt bad for not being there very good for his family, specifically Ariko and Ruri, and even Omoikane, however much he was thrust upon them with Ruri. And with Alfred playing both sides in the battlefield that was Peace Castle, Ariko took it upon himself to go to his father's study to try to clear things up with the only parent he still felt devoted to.

As he opened the door, he realized that his father was probably more stressed out than he should be. Ariko often dressed in casual clothing, even before he was on the Nadesico. He was more comfortable in a shirt and some jeans rather than those more formal things his mother often pressured him to wear. But he did not expect to see his father wearing a yellow shirt and red slacks. Fredrick was proud of Peaceland, as much as it was a joke and a place where people's lives were ruined, so he often appeared as the king he was and wanted to be. But something must have been grating him to just throw on some clothes. He didn't notice Ariko enter immediately, as he was looking out the window. At what, Ariko knew not. But Fredrick turned when he heard the door close, and despite the worry in his black eyes, smiled warmly at his oldest son. "Ariko-chan! Sit down, my boy, sit down!"

Ariko felt his pale lips form a smile as he walked over to one of the red chairs that faced the dark, wooden desk and plopped into unceremoniously. He leaned on the desk, pushed a pesky red lamp out of his vision, and leaned his head on his crossed arms. He didn't get to begin the conversation, as Fredrick turned back to the window, gave a disgusted snort, and drew the blood-red curtains together. He sat down in his own chair, across from Ariko's. "It's war out in the front. I've half a mind to order someone to pull up the drawbridge. It's bad enough it's in here, ne, Ariko-chan?" Ariko nodded slowly. While he was oiling Omoikane's joints for him a few days prior, the robot told the tale of exactly what happened between Rachiku and Ruri. He said he turned himself back on when Ruri wasn't looking, as he didn't trust Rachiku as far as he could throw him. And he had assured Ariko that he was created to be for information only, not brute force, so he wouldn't have been able to throw anyone very far.

"Yeah, Omoikane said that Oneechan and Rachiku had an argument about Okaasama. She yelled that Misumaru-san would probably be a better mother for her than Okaasama."

"'Oneechan', eh? Well, you're the closest in this house to her, save for her robot. And she knows much more than your mother knows. Especially when it comes to herself. Perhaps… seeing Misumaru-san would make her feel better?"

"Maybe." Ariko fell silent. Fredrick hadn't refuted the fact that Ruri said that Yurika would be a better mother than Gwynth. "Otousama… what's going to happen?"

"Oh, well, we'll probably send her off to Sasebo, and maybe even send you off to Tokyo if you want to go see your mentor. You know I'm not mean."

"No, Otousama… here. What's going to happen here? This thing about Oneechan, Omoikane… and even me, I guess… it's causing problems. You know what I mean." A statement, not a question. Fredrick knew that this was grating on the kids. He knew it. He just couldn't come to terms with the fact that it could not be easily pushed away so that they would have their balance once again. He couldn't see that the two children that were affected most by this, Ruri and Ariko, were beyond mature and he could not understand why he didn't see the change.

"I suppose I should tell you the truth, Ariko. You are twelve and mature enough to handle it. I… think this may cause more problems in the future. This isn't just a matter of opinion here, it's a matter of how we treat you and your sister. She doesn't see that you've grown up without us because we weren't there. It's hard for me to see it, too. But she can't be accepting of the people you've become, especially your sister. She may not have birthed her, but Ruri is still our daughter, and she should be happy for her. The fact that she is not and more concerned about her standing makes me wonder about her as a mother, a woman, and even a person. She's definitely changed. Her becoming queen, I'm afraid, may have done it. But I don't know if I should put you all through that. She's nothing short of loony, Ariko, you know that." Ariko nodded. "So… what are you going to do about it?"

"What will I do? What can I do under such circumstances? Petitioners of both sides of the Jumper debate are continuously brawling in front of Peace Castle. Our own family is battle out beliefs and the like within its walls. Whatever happened to this country being the happy, innocent neutral? Whatever happened to the peace?" Fredrick sighed, and he looked even wearier, and it was a bit disconcerting to Ariko, who had known Fredrick to be the upbeat and fun parent, while Gwynth was the one with all the rules. Even people on the Nadesico were not sad for very long. He stood up, walked around the desk, and gave his father a hug.

Fredrick was a little befuddled, but regained his composure and hugged his son back. Hell, they both knew they needed it. "How would you feel… if she wasn't your mother anymore?"

"At this point, Otousama, I don't care. I really don't."

~*~

Izumi had been ignoring the pile of mail on the desk near the front door of Yamada Manor since they had arrived back from America the previous week. She did not know why specifically she was doing it, other than perhaps dread at the letter she knew sat in the stack. She had been avoiding it, but now, on the one day that she knew it wouldn't be buried in other things, she decided it was time to suck it up and read the damn thing.

It was almost too easily ignored as a bill, without any marks that it was actually a very personal letter, other than it was from Inez and addressed to Izumi. But she found it. She did not open it, until she was sitting in the TV room of her bedroom. It was then and only then, with surprisingly calm fingers, did she open it and begin to read it.

"Dear Izumi,

I am a fool. There is no other reason for this idiocy and tension I've caused and I apologize and pray to all five Gods that you will forgive me.

Your request for me to choose between you and her was not easy. I have believed for most of my life that I was in love with Erina and always would be as such. However, I had come to know that you had worked your way into my uncaring heart. I thought it was hers, only hers, but you've claimed a very important part of it and for a long time I just could not choose. But choose, I knew, I must if I want either.

But I came to a simple conclusion after I spoke with Erina. She said that she would throw Yurika away in a moment if she thought she would have me. She is convinced that she is in love with me, and I don't blame her. But I could not live thinking of how much it would hurt you. The thought of hurting you tortured me even more than hurting her would. And with that, I made my choice. I choose you, Izumi, over the woman that I loved for a very long time.

I loved Erina because she was brilliant. She was. But I failed to see that she was also conniving, dishonest, and everything that I knew but never realized she would apply it to a relationship. It made me wonder how many times she had lied to me. You, on the other hand, are everything that I love about her but nothing that I hate about her. My bond to Erina made me lose sight of which I really did care more for, feel more attraction to, and even loved more.

I love you, Izumi. I don't think writing that a thousand times will quench my guilt of this event. But I love you, Izumi. I choose you over her. It was difficult, but hopefully completely worth it. I only hope that you haven't lost your own hope for us.

I await a response in any medium available.

Love, Inez."

At the end of the letter, Izumi took a deep breath, but let it out in a sigh. She glanced over it again, and felt a maniacal smile grow on her face. It wasn't a smile of someone that was about to commit mass murder, but instead the smile of someone that felt that everything was good in the world and nothing could bring her down. She crushed the letter to her chest, as if it were the older woman herself, giggling. She had won over the woman Inez loved for years. She was the reason Inez was going to crush Erina's heart like glass. And for some odd reason, it made her very happy to think of this.

She folded the letter up, walked into her room, and stuck it under her pillow. She then grabbed the phone on the nightstand, listened to make sure no one else was using it, then dialed Inez's number. She needed to hear her voice so that she could make sure it was all true. Not that she doubted it.

She was far too giddy to make any sense.

~*~

Itsuki came home early that day. She didn't know why. Perhaps it was a fluke. But she didn't feel all that well, so she left Gai with everything and just went home. But as she was coming up to the front door, she heard some sort of hitting in the gym just past the parlor. Glancing at her watch to see that it was still somewhat early in the afternoon, the only ones home would be Hikaru and Jun. And with a new video game to play from her birthday that weekend, Hikaru would definitely not be in the gym pretending to not be lazy. Jun, on the other hand, would most likely be on the complete other side of the house, but it was more logical to assume it was him. So, as she took off her shoes and prepared to go upstairs and change she walked to the gym door and peeked, just to see if it really was Jun.

Of course it wasn't. Later, when she actually looked, she had found that he was in fact in his little guesthouse watching TV. But the person she found in the gym was not all surprising. She put her hands on her hips, cocked her head, and sighed at Ryoko, who was hitting a punching bag with such agility and fury that Itsuki actually felt a little sorry for it. Ryoko was spinning and hit it with a roundhouse kick when she noticed that her lover was in the door. She stopped the punching bag from swinging and looked at her. "What?"

"Why are you here? I thought you were suddenly needed because business was running and jumping?"

"I should ask you the same, Miss 'I have and always will have a steady job'."

"I don't feel very well. I was looking forward to a bath and spending the rest of the day in biking shorts and a huge sweatshirt with room for friends. So, what, did you quit?" Ryoko gave a sad smile, almost one of guilt. "Red-handed, I guess. Something like that." She pulled some tape off her right hand and stretched it out, wiggling her fingers. The ground trembled just slightly, but only enough to resettle knick-knacks on shelves and frighten dust. She repeated the action with her other hand, but there was no small tremor in the earth this time, so she walked over to where Itsuki's stood. Ryoko wrapped her arms around Itsuki's waist and started walked them back into the parlor. Itsuki smiled. Ryoko was often aggressive when not in bed, but the roles did tend to switch in both public areas and their room. Ryoko ended her train of thought, however. "So, how sick are you? Should I be afraid to kiss you?"

"Oh, headache, a little sneezy, and really sleepy. If you kiss me I'll just be a slobbering fool, so for my dignity's sake, please don't do so." Ryoko smirked. "You have dignity?"

"Yes, surprisingly." Ryoko let go of her once they reached the stairwell. They both climbed the flights in silence, that is, until Ryoko broke it. "What kind of bath?"

"A relaxing one. Preferably with bubbles, but those are optional."

"Well, if you can settle for hot-tub, I'll join you. I'm kind of tired since I've been beating the shit out of that punching bag for the past forty-five minutes or so." Itsuki got an indecent smile on her face. "Well, if you're going to be naked in with me, who am I to refuse?"

"A sick person. You aren't though, are you?"

"I am so. I just want to look as always. I'm too drained to actually DO anything." Ryoko nodded as they reached the top. They first went to their room, mostly so Ryoko could help Itsuki out of her constricting suit. She never did like wearing the things and Ryoko happened to like to see her come out of them. Then Ryoko made sure the hot-tub just next door was in working order and turned it on before coming back and shedding her own clothing. Itsuki, as she was the one who requested bubbles, put in a bit of bubble bath liquid then slid into the water, feeling better already. Ryoko made much more of a splash when she came in, and it was unintentional. Itsuki wrinkled her nose and kicked her lover, who glared at her. The glare turned into an evil smile, then a relaxed one as she sank in to her neck.

Itsuki began playing with one of the jets. "Ryoko… did you really quit?"

"Sort of. I just told Miss How Mei that I can't do it anymore and that I was coming home. Told Akito and Izumi I'd see him later and then left. Simple as that."

"Can't do what anymore?"

"Oh, you know, Itsuki. All that stupid customer service shit. I can't be nice when I'm pissed off, you know me. And shit goes wrong a lot there, so I get pissed off far too often…"

Itsuki fell silent. Ryoko was a difficult person to work with. She had no direction before the war, she knew that, and without the war there now, the girl had pretty much nothing to do. And now that she had given up doing the public regular, up-front service…

"Hey, Ryoko, I know I'm not in my right mind right now 'cause I'm sick, but have you ever thought of being a security person?"

"Like, what kind of security person? Like crazy concert security or Mr. Hory security?"

"Mr. Hory security. Jiro and I are trying to overhaul our old employees before they start a revolt. You have the right to beat people up if they don't listen and all that, you know?"

"Heh, kind of like when Tenkawa decided he was such a man and attacked Admiral Fukube. My. Hory and Uribatake had to tie him up. Hikaru had fun making fun of him though…"

"Man, I can't believe I missed that! But, do you think you could do that instead of this waitressing bit?"

"I suppose… Itsuki, why are you doing this?"

"Because I love you and I don't like to see you without a purpose. It depresses you. I can tell." Ryoko smiled. She reached and grabbed Itsuki's hand under the water. She lifted it up and, looking Itsuki in the eye, kissed her knuckles in the same fashion that Itsuki did when they first met. Itsuki smiled, then looked like she couldn't breath for a moment. She then sneezed, covering her face as she did so, yanking her hand out of Ryoko's. Ryoko sighed, smiling. "All right, contagious one, let's get you some medicine."

~*~

Uribatake was early, to Hikaru's dismay. The only reason she knew about this was that there was a knock at her door while she was trying her damnedest to pin up her hair, which had grown to about half-way down her back. The latest attempt failed, and she sighed and shook out the waves as she shouted, "It's open!"

Brigit entered timidly. "Amano-san, Uribatake-san is here and has been seated in the parlor." Hikaru's jaw dropped and she stuck her head out of the bathroom. "Brigit, are you fucking SERIOUS?!? What time is it?"

"Twenty to six, Amano-san."

"Aer-fucking-dammit… Um, tell him that he has to wait just a few more minutes… I need to… Oh, just go tell him I'm almost done." Brigit nodded and quickly left Hikaru's room. Hikaru went back into the bathroom and glared at her reflection. She was wearing the short light purple dress Gai had expertly gotten her that fit perfectly. She expected Itsuki had gone with him. It had thin straps and only reached to a little above her knees, but it was short for her. She had been trying to get her hair into some kind of pile on top of her head, but because it was so stubborn, she figured she would just have to wear it down as usual. She wasn't going to wear any jewelry, especially since she couldn't get one earring in in less than five minutes anyway. She was going to wear the shoes Gai also gotten here with the assumed help of Itsuki that matched the dress. In fact, everything was okay, except her hair and the fact that her glasses were still on. She took them off for a moment and watched her reflection become a little fuzzy. She didn't have very bad eyesight, just enough where she wouldn't be able to read something that wasn't three feet from her face. But if she didn't wear her glasses, she'd get a headache quickly. She sighed, put them back on, and went back into her room to put her shoes on and grab her wallet.

Sure enough, Uribatake was sitting in the couch in the parlor. Also to Hikaru's dismay, he wasn't alone. Ryoko was in there talking to him as well, which caused her to slap her forehead once she entered. "-And please remember, while I might not get help from anyone else here, I do believe in castration if you start shit that doesn't need to be starting."

"Ryoko, what the fuck? Aer, you'd think you were my father or something, shit! No, shut your mouth. You've been dismissed." Ryoko smirked, but kept silent as she wondered into the library. Hikaru rushed over and beat on the lower part of the door. Uribatake gave her an odd look. "What was that for?"

"Hey, the eavesdropping shit didn't just stop on the ship, you know. Especially since most of us now live here." She looked over at him. He was wearing a red sweater and black pants. She could see a black shirt underneath the sweater, which was smart on his part, especially since the somewhat chilly spring was slowly turning into the more warm part of the season. "You look nice, sort of."

"I should say the same for you. Never saw that dress before though. It new?" Hikaru nodded. "Yup, Gai got it for me for my birthday. Before you ask, last Saturday." Uribatake's jaw picked itself back up and he stood, glaring at her. "And why the fuck didn't you tell me?"

"Because I knew you'd try your ass off to either show up or give me something or both. I didn't want to deal with that, this is present enough, now let's get the fuck going, Aer…" Hikaru grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the front door. "How did you get here, anyway?"

"Drove. Car's just out front." Hikaru opened the door and saw that, indeed, the car was just out front. "You want to cram me into that little matchbox? What, do you think I'm skinny or something, Uri-P? I do have an ass, you know."

Uribatake took out his keys and unlocked the white car with a button. "Yes, I do know you have an ass," said he as he slapped her butt, walking to the driver's side of the car. Hikaru rolled her eyes, as she was very used to getting her ass slapped by Itsuki and Akito around the house. "If you do that again," she began, opening her door and sitting down, trying to make it so she wouldn't flash anyone once she had to get out again, "you will lose all sorts of ass-privileges."

"Ass-privileges? Like what?" The car was started and heading back onto the road that led past the gates. Hikaru smiled. "No, butt-sex is not on the list. Shit like me telling you to kiss my ass, you being able to kick my ass…"

"The first sounds more like you hurting yourself."

"Yeah, it is, but then at least you won't try it. Trust me. Happens at home all the time. Fuckin' Akito and Itsuki."

"What, now they're fucking hitting on you?"

"No, just trying shit to piss me off. They know I'm the Old Maid in the house. They don't try shit with Junny anymore, you know…"

"Yeah, I heard. Poor kid. Makes me want to strangle Yurika, seriously. But enough about that. Did you get that phone call?" Hikaru bit her lip. She didn't want to think about that either. "Um, yeah."

"Well, what'd they say?"

"I got rejected." Uribatake reached over and rubbed her shoulder, glancing over. He gave her a reassuring smile. "Don't worry. Just one in tons more, right?"

"Yeah, that's what I've been telling myself… Sometimes I wonder if I don't just suck. That would be a logical explanation, right?"

"Hikaru, you do not suck. I'm an Internet geek too, you know. I looked up some of your stuff. It's pretty good. It's just… not everyone is good with everything I guess." Hikaru smiled sadly. "Yeah, I guess. Better subject or I'm gonna cry."

"It's not like your make-up will run. Are you even wearing any?"

"Nope. I never do. Grandma used to make me wear it to school dances and shit… that's usually where I gained new boyfriends. Hell, I got my first kiss at a school dance."

"You never talk about this sort of thing. What was it like?"

"What, my first kiss? Well, it wasn't as bad as Akito's, but it was pretty bad. Dude, it felt like he was raping my face." Uribatake burst out laughing. "I have never fucking heard that term used."

"Oh, I got it from Izumi. Aer and Aqua know where she got it. Probably one of her crowds or something. But yeah, face-raping. That's what it was like. He was all 'oh, meet my tongue, Hikaru, he wants to lick your esophagus' and suddenly it was trying its damnedest to do so. I've kind of been wary of kissing ever since."

"Well, that would fuck you over in the first impressions department. So, hey, what do you want to do?"

"Uri-P, do you mean you've just been driving without purpose since we left the house?"

"Well, not really. I know we're going to go eat, but what do you want to do after that?"

"How about we go to some place with a cover charge, and start dancing in the fucking parking lot to piss them off?"

"Where the fuck do you pull this shit, Hikaru?"

"Where all the other shit in the world comes from, Uri-P. I don't know… Arcade? Know any places with good skee-ball?"

"Skee-ball? You'd play that? In this day and age?"

"Yup. Wanna make something of it?"

"God, Hikaru, you know I'm not one for fighting, especially with someone who'd tornado my ass before I put my fucking fists up." He suddenly turned into a parking lot. Hikaru looked up and wrinkled her nose to find it was just a regular casual dining place. "Hey, you said dress nice, you fucker."

"Yeah, because I wanted to see you dress nice. Didn't think it possible. Still don't." Hikaru glared at him and punched his arm before getting out of the car, not caring that she actually did give him a random shot of her panties.

Once they had been seated, Hikaru looked over the menu. "Okay, I'm done." She closed it immediately and whispered her order so that she would remember it when the waiter came back.

"Already? We haven't even ordered our drinks yet!" She nodded. "Yup." Uribatake shook his head and sighed. "Crazy girl…" The waiter came back, and both Hikaru and Uribatake declined to his offer of some alcoholic drink or another. They both ordered sodas, but Uribatake was a little shocked at Hikaru. She had, of course, just turned twenty-one. "What the hell, I thought you'd became a huge lush once you became legal?"

"I can't stand the smell. It makes me gag and want to puke. What about you, you're fucking ten years older than me."

"Wow, put things into perspective, why don't you. I'd rather not make a complete fool of myself on your birthday present night."

"Too late." Uribatake rolled his eyes. He then propped his head up on his hand and closed his menu, opting for just a regular steak. He wasn't all that hungry anyway. "You do know that I'm going to have to ask if they have any birthday shit, right?"

"Oh fuck you, Uri-P. Aer-dammit, that's mean."

"I know. Hey, speaking of which, you haven't ever, have you?"

"What kind of question is that? And no, I've never fucked anyone. Still a damn virgin. Oh, thanks," she said to the waiter, placing her Mars Cola in front of her, and then placing Uribatake's Asteroid Root Beer in front of him. "I'll have," started the redhead, "the barbecued chicken and salad. Yeah, that's it. Uri-P?"

"Oh, uh… Can I get the grilled steak, medium rare, and a salad too? Thanks." The waiter wrote down both orders, took their menus, and left them to themselves once again.

"You didn't ask him about the birthday shit."

"Consider that your birthday present. No risk of being mortified for life while in my presence today. Maybe tomorrow or something."

"Oh, well that's nice to hear. Why'd you ask if I've fucked anyone yet?"

"Back to the subject that's pissing you off, I see. Curious. Kind of weird though, didn't you live with your latest boyfriend?"

"Yeah, just before we finished Pilot's training. Moved out of Mom's, into his apartment, then back into Mom's once we split. Pissed him off that I didn't want to fuck, you know? That's why we split."

"Really? I thought you said you left him."

"Uh, yeah, about that… it makes more sense if people see me as a predator of men than someone that gets shot down all the time. Um, sorry about that."

"No problem. I've known for a while. I've gotten used to the idea. So, what, he left you because he called you a prude?"

"Yeah pretty much. 'What the hell am I gonna get out of this if you don't fucking put out?' Hey, I got fucking face-raped for my first Aer-damned kiss. I don't think I'd like things in my orifices, okay? I don't want your fucking cock in my pussy, so go jack off in peace if you want sex so bad. Hell, I do."

"Whoa, you're talking about masturbating? I never thought I'd see the day."

"Yeah, well… What is it with people and assuming girls don't do it? Shit, it's a lot better than being a fucking slut, and you get to figure out what gets you off."

"Hey, I'm all for chicks jacking off. So, what have you figured out?"

"Oh, it'll take more than free food and a few rounds of skee-ball to get me to say that, boy-o. Nice try."

"Hey, I was just asking. I'll tell you mine if you want."

"Oh, Aer, no. Might I remind you that you're ten years older than me?"

"That didn't seem to bother you at the pageant, you little succubus." Hikaru sighed and knocked her head on the table. "So, the subject you've been dancing around finally makes its appearance. What can I say, Akito has a hair fetish, Izumi has a sexy librarian fetish, Ryoko has a girly-person fetish, I happen to have an older person fetish. Not to mention nerdy." Hikaru took a sip of her soda, trying to ignore the fact that she had just bared a lot to Uribatake about her feelings about him.

"You just called me nerdy. Thanks for the compliment. But really, you have a thing for me? When did this come about?" The waiter had to interrupt once again to place their salads in front of them and update them on the state of their food. Once he left though, Hikaru made it her duty to fill her face so that she wouldn't have to answer any questions. Uribatake shook his head and poked at his. "You know, Hikaru, that's really not sexy."

"I'm not trying to be. When people say they're taking me out, I don't eat all day so I can enjoy expensive food. Besides, we both know I'm not sexy anyway. I'm the cute one, remember?"

"Oh fine, you're the cute one. But I still think you look better without your glasses."

"Yeah, well… until I get off my ass and cook those three dinners, I'm gonna be stuck with 'em."

"Uh… what?"

"Oh, Akito's on this blackmailing thing… he won't tell me who or where his optometrist is until I do the nights of food for people. Asswipe knows I can't cook worth shit. And you know, his eyesight's worse than mine, I should be more entitled to contacts than him, ass-monkey."

"Oh, you see, I did think it was odd how he randomly started wearing glasses, and then didn't. That explains it then."

"Yeah. Me and Akito, we're the ones who can't see. Hey, that rhymed!" Uribatake rolled his eyes. Hikaru sure was a handful, sometimes. But for some reason, he didn't think she was any worse of a friend. The rest of the night followed this pattern of talking about themselves, others, and whatever was going on around them at the time.

In fact, they had had so much fun he almost thought it was like guys' night out. Which is why he almost forgot to give Hikaru the customary goodnight kiss when he brought her home. He even left her on the porch first and had to come back.

Hikaru cocked her head as he rushed back. "What did you leave something in the house? I'll get it." She reached over to the door to unlock it. Uribatake shook his head. "Oh, no, I just forgot to do something. Haven't actually been on a date in a while. But you know me, excuses, excuses."

Hikaru smiled and raised her hand. "It's okay, I get it. High-five?" For some reason she didn't really get it until the lip-on-lip contact was made. Still wary of kisses, she widened her eyes, but then closed them once she realized that it was, in fact, her best male friend, even her crush. It was just simple contact, that was all, but it was enough. It ended quickly and Uribatake was backing off the porch. "Later, Hikaru!"

She smiled and waved as he got into his car. "Later… Seiya."

~*~

Yukina often got the mail after school, but with her still sitting at the kitchen table agonizing over her English homework, Minato had to go and get it when she came home. What she found made her very happy indeed. She and Yukina had made up about a week or so prior, so Yukina, ever the procrastinator, noticed the smile on her would-be sister-in-law's face before Minato even did. "what do you have there?"

"Letter from Megumi. Might actually be our invitation or something…" She opened it up and scanned it before actually reading it.

"Dear Minato,

I know, this may seem like really short notice, but Rumiko, that bastard, didn't even tell me about this until five minutes ago. Well, here're all the stats on the wedding, first of all. May 5th, First Pentakami Church here in Carmina, and we're starting the stuff at around four in the afternoon. You're allowed to wear what you want but Yukina's gotta wear her silver robes, says Rumiko. He's wearing them too, though, so… Other than that, nothing in particular. You don't have to bring presents or anything, though it would be nice and all. The Gods know we got enough shit around here as it is. Anyway, the more important thing is for you.

Rumiko just now told me about the rules regarding assists. Apparently if they want the position, they have to announce that they're beginning their campaign for the spot. Otherwise, we pick whomever. Well, no one's claimed assist for me, so Minato? I'd be honored if you would be my maiden assist. I really would. I understand if you don't want the responsibility and all… But I figured I'd ask you since you are my best friend.

Okay, before you decide, I figure I should tell you about the assists. Igadosu is going to be Rumiko's fellow assist, so I guess you just have to remember than with this stuff. First of all, the parents do not give away the person in a marriage, but the person either Rumiko or I are closest to. We walk together to the alter from the left, while Rumiko and Igadosu go from the right. Don't worry, even though there's no rehearsal, it's really simple. Then, after we both meet, um… this will sound weird but you and Igadosu will have to kiss as an agreement I guess. If you really don't want to, I'll tell you again it's okay, but I'd really appreciate it… anyway, that's supposed to be like your willing to hand me to one that's being handed to me to or something… it's hard to explain. Then, after that, we go on as if a usual ceremony, do that vows thing (I still have to write mine, though I'm wonder if I shouldn't just spout off what I want to say right there), and then I place the necklace on Rumiko and we kiss, then it's done. Probably the worst part you'll have to face is kissing Igadosu, but he won't think anything of it than just the ceremony anyway. He's done these often enough to know what's going on.

So, um… if you don't want to do it, just write me back and tell me, otherwise I'll just assume and that will be bad… So, that's all I think you need to know. You're acquainted with how Jump shuttles work, right? Because that's how we're transferring everyone. We've even decided to invite some of the people we met at Peaceland Ball, just because. Not very many Ninlandish faces will be there, I think… but that's all right.

So, without further ado, write me back or I'll do something horrible that you'll absolutely hate and only because I love you.

Sincerely, Megumi."

Minato was not surprised by the request or the ritual. Megumi had sparked her interest in how Ninlandish weddings work the last time and had been looking things up in recent memory. The thought of kissing Igadosu out of the greeting and agreement that was required should have made her shudder, but it didn't, because it did not mean anything other than their compliance with Rumiko's and Megumi's match. Minato nodded to herself. She would do it. She may mess up, but that was all right. She would do this for Megumi because Megumi would do this for her, if the roles were reversed. Minato shuddered then, as the thought of being romantically involved with Rumiko made her a bit nauseous.

"So, so, what'd she say?" Minato was called to attention by Yukina's question. "Oh, this is pretty much our wedding invitation. She asked me to be her maiden assist."

"What's that?"

"Like a maid of honor or something. She explained what I'm supposed to do and everything. And she said you have to wear your robes when you go." Yukina groaned and slammed her head on the table. "Aw, do I have to? Those things are hot and disgusting…"

"Well, I suppose we could improvise. How about a silver dress and just your cloak over it? That way you don't break the rules and you still get to wear whatever?" Yukina nodded, looking a bit happier. "Well, I guess that's fine. How much you want to bet all the others will do something similar?"

"Nothing, because I know they will. I just hope you don't have anything against me kissing Igadosu…"

"WHAT?" Minato laughed at Yukina's face. "It's part of the ceremony, calm down. Igadosu is going to be Rumiko's fellow assist, and the two assists are supposed to kiss to show their happiness at the joining. Nothing sexual. You can stop hyperventilating now."

Yukina nodded again. "Well, I suppose that's okay. I'd really want to go move into someone else's house if you had a thing for him though. How old is he, anyway?"

"I don't know. How far are you on your sentence structures?"

"Um… I'm getting there, calm down!"

~*~

She slapped her. Inez just allowed her to do so before turning back and glaring at her. "And I suppose you have an explanation for just coming in here and slapping me, do you not, Yurika?" The younger Martian woman before returned her glare in full. "You know why I did it, Inez. You and Erina have been fucking behind my back. Behind Izumi's back. How cruel could you be? Both of you?"

Inez's right eye twitched. Yurika had lost her mind. Inez was not sleeping with Erina at all. She had in the past, yes, but that was before Izumi, not while she was with her. In fact, Inez had just sent off a letter a week ago to Izumi telling her she was dropping Erina for good. But, as she thought and stared at the former captain of the Nadesico, she realized that it was logical to assume that, if Erina was having an affair, it would be with her. Unfortunately, there was nothing logical about this, which made Inez wonder why all this had come about.

"Yurika, I swear to Terra the Strong that I am not having an affair with Erina. I would not do that to Izumi."

"Bullshit. I've seen you, you've been pissed that Erina and I are together, jealous. I know she loves you and you love her, so why WOULDN'T you just toss her away for her?" Inez shook her head. Yurika wasn't making sense anymore. Obviously, rightly placed paranoia is what gave birth to this development, but it was focused on the wrong person.

"Yurika, I'm telling you. I'm not fucking Erina. I'm not. I wrote to Izumi just a week ago telling her that I'm not going to be jealous anymore. That I love her. Why the fuck would I screw Erina when things between Izumi and are patched up?" Yurika had to admit; this did make a lot of sense. Almost too much sense. Yurika fumbled for her white purse, reached in, and pulled out a pair of dark blue underwear. Women's underwear. "I found these in the living room. They aren't hers, and they sure as hell aren't mine. What am I supposed to believe, huh?"

Inez didn't need to see them. She sighed. "Oh, Yurika… I didn't want to be the one to tell you…"

"What? That you're causing shit in more than one relationship? That's fucked up, Inez!" Inez shook her head and placed her hands on Yurika's shoulders. "Yurika… I'm sorry… I knew and I didn't tell you. I apologize."

"You… knew what? What's going on? It really isn't you? These aren't yours?" Inez shook her head again. She grabbed Yurika's aqua eyes with her blue. "Yurika… those are Kaguya's." she watched the shock fill those eyes, then the anger, then the hopelessness, all within a split second. But she couldn't see any other emotions as they were obscured by tears. Yurika covered her face with her hands. "Oh… Inez, I'm so sorry…"

"It's all right, I should be the one apologizing. I knew about it, after all…" She instantly regretted those words. Yurika glared at her at full force again, even with tears streaming down her face. "I should have known. I should have seen it. But you should have told me! You bitch, how could you keep this from me!?" She ripped Inez's hands from her and stomped off. Inez sighed. The drama and politics in this place were often too much.

Yurika did not sob until she had reached her car. She did not drive anywhere, she just sat at the wheel and cried, not letting anything stop her: her pride, her stupidity, any of that. She would not be in this position if she didn't have either of those. How could she have a relationship with that lying bitch Erina? What did she want from her? Did she want Akatsuki back so much that she was willing to sleep with his cousin to see him in anyone? Did she really love him that much? Why did he have to die?

On that last question, Yurika realized that there was only one place she could go if she wanted anything to help, anything at all. The home of at least three people she loved and cared for dearly, even if they did not. She began driving towards the nearest shuttle port. She was going to Kawasaki.

~*~

TBC…

~*~

A/N: Okay, so we did go a bit over. That's okay, right? Nothing wrong with a teeny-bit-longer-than-usual chapter, right? Well, hello, the shit is beginning to go down once again. ^^ I don't think you see it, but I see it. Whee. ^^ Anyway, next time… Yurika's going to Kawasaki? Well, I wonder who lives there? ^^ Also, the usual stuff, some sight of the plot, possibly even some other stuff from those that are not active but really should be. Yeah, I'm feeling for those I've been ignoring. So we'll do some shit with them. Also, the up and coming wedding is chapter after next and I can promise that! Anyway, you know the drill, as reviews make me happy and I'm beginning to miss them ;_; Anyway, later! 


	17. This earns a holy shit, I think

A/N: Oh yeah, here goes the shit. ^^ Yeah… the shit is going. Wee. Well, I told you all to remember that Erina isn't faithful. ^^ Anyway… no we aren't going to see her this time around! We won't be seeing much of her, actually, for a while. Anyway… last time… Fredrick and Ariko had a heart-to-heart, Inez finally fixed things up with Izumi, Ryoko and Itsuki dealt with Ryoko's occupation problem, Uribatake and Hikaru went out on a date, Megumi asked Minato via letter if she wanted to be her assist, and Inez told a distraught Yurika about Erina's affair with Kaguya, who promptly decided to leave town. And from that, we pick up, actually. This thing with Yurika, some look into the plot, how it affects some closely related, some Saburota and Mari stuff, a look into the more forgotten Nergal folks, and… that's it! Okay, that's the thing. Let's get right into it, then!"

~*~

It was raining, of course.

Jun had opted to sit on the couch and watch the old cartoon movies Ryoko had found in the library, hidden in a box. Hikaru, Izumi, and Itsuki were making fools of themselves and inserting odd comments in the middle of things, making it that much more enjoyable. Jun had made a few comments himself, but now was content just listening. But it was his listening that heard the doorbell when no one else did.

Brigit had gone back to her home in Tokyo a little over an hour ago, so Jun got up from his perch on the couch and walked over to the door. With a check out the window to see if it was still raining, he realized that the front light was out. "Hey, Gai, you might want to get a new light bulb in the outside light tomorrow or something. It's dead." He then opened the door, expecting to see some desperate salesman or loyal missionary. Instead, he saw Yurika.

She was absolutely drenched and not dressed for the weather at all, in her pink shirt, short denim skirt, and knee-high black boots. She was covered in goose bumps and her mascara had run down her cheeks to the point where she didn't care anymore. She rubbed her arms with her black-gloved hands. "C-c-can I come in, Jun-kun?"

Jun had to pick his jaw up off the floor before he could speak. "Holy shit, Yurika…" he grabbed her hand and pulled her into the house, the slam of the door calling the closest person to the parlor door to look, which of course was Akito. "God of Water, what the hell are you doing here, Yurika?!" The sound of five other sets of feet hitting the floor, standing, and leaving the parlor and entering the hall, radiated to Yurika's ears, made sensitive by the cold. There was an eerie silence that covered them before Ryoko started barking out orders. "What the hell are you guys just doing standing there? Hikaru, towels. Itsuki, get me either some of my clothes or yours, she's soaked. Yamada, you can handle getting a bath in Izumi's bathroom going, can't you? Tenkawa, some form of liquid warmth, I don't care what. Izumi, blankets, if you please. You're all still here, hop to!" The speed at which they got going was astounding. A few of them, namely Akito, didn't look to happy to be doing as ordered, but did so anyway, possibly out of fear of being killed by the tomboy. Ryoko looked over Yurika, then noticed the mess that was her face. She pushed some of the soggy strands away from her face and wiped some of the runny makeup away with her thumb. She looked Yurika in the eyes and gave her a reassuring smile, telling her that it was okay. She was met with sadness and something that looked almost like an urge to kill. That shocked her, so much that she had to take a step back. She looked at her stepbrother, almost for an explanation. He just stared at the floor, turned on his heel, and headed toward the kitchen. Ryoko sighed, shook her head, and led Yurika up the stairs to Izumi's bathroom.

Jun pushed the door to the kitchen open angrily. Akito felt the temperature of the room, which had been a much more comfortable chilly, heat up immediately. He turned his head to see a seething Jun. But Jun didn't stay in the kitchen long and it was reduced back to the lower temperature Akito kept it at. Akito looked at the chicken-soup on the stove, then stuck his head out to the hall to see Hikaru coming back. "Hey, Hikaru, you won't burn soup, will you?"

"Oh, ha, ha, laugh it up, Akito. Why, want me to watch it?"

"Yeah… Jun's pissed." Hikaru came into the kitchen. "Well, I'm not surprised. He fucking told her off just before we went to see Mom and Grandma, I'd be pissed if I were him." Akito nodded. "I'm gonna go be his friend and hope I don't walk into a bonfire. Make sure it cooks. Taste it every once in a while to make sure. When it's done, pour it into that bowl there, and take it to wherever the fuck Ryoko's putting Yurika. And make sure she gets an explanation out of her."

"Aer, you and Ryoko are so bossy… I CAN cook soup you know. Bitch. Go be nice to Junny and tell him we still love him for me." Akito nodded, and left the kitchen to the pool area, cursing the fact that Yamada Manor had a guesthouse that Jun lived in. He ran, though, so that he wouldn't get too wet. He yanked open the door to see Jun surrounded by what looked to be dozens of candles. He couldn't see very well, as the room was dark, but only for a moment. With the snap of fingers all of the candles were lit, casting a warm glow about the room. Akito could see a slight red tinge to the air, but it disappeared eventually. Jun was sitting on the floor, not facing Akito, but, rather, the stairs leading up to his bedroom.

Akito walked slowly as to not trip on anything and came to sit on the couch behind Jun. He reached over and petted Jun's own wet hair, as he was not very far away. Jun hiccupped, but for no apparent reason, as he didn't appear to be crying that hard. Jun leaned his head back when Akito stopped playing with his hair. The Martian smiled, pulling his fingers through Jun's quickly drying hair yet again. Akito bent over and pressed his forehead against Jun's in an awkward act of love. Jun had become Akito's best friend and it, in this incident, had shown that it was reciprocated. Akito's hands went from Jun's hair to his cheeks, petting them now. He finally spoke. "It'll be all right, Junny. We all still love you. She must of thought you important if she decided to come all the way from Hiratsuka to here on an impulse. She probably just needs friends right now. If you want to avoid her, though, I'll understand, even if they don't." He then gently kissed Jun's forehead. Jun's eyes, long closed, finally opened. "Akito… I don't want her here. I said so many horrible things to her. I don't want to have to face her after that. I don't want her here."

"I know. You can be a hermit if you like. But we can't just turn her away, you know that Junny. We're too fucking nice. We'll ask her how long she's going to stay and deal with things from there, all right?" Jun made an affirmative grunt, "uh-huh," and closed his eyes again. Akito's fingers and forehead were all so very cold. It made Jun get his own goose bumps, but it didn't feel all that bad. Just… odd. Almost comforting on Jun's flushed, heated skin. He always became hot when he was upset, especially since getting his nanoinjection. He figured it was the fire magic. It made sense that Akito would be cold, but he had no idea how different the opposites were until now.

Akito, noticing Jun thinking, figured he was doing some bad thinking and wrapped his arms around Jun's neck, kissing him on the cheek. "We won't let her fuck things up too much, okay? We love you much more than her. You're our fucking Junny. Might I repeat, OUR Junny? You're our friend… and my best friend. After all," he began with a grin, knowing he was possibly crossing the line, "who's sexuality are we supposed to question if you aren't around, hmm?" Before Jun realized what he said, he could feel Akito kissing his cheek again, and could have sworn he felt his tongue on his cheek for just a moment. Then the words registered and he stood suddenly, turning around with his dark blue eyes aflame.

"FLAMMA-DAMMIT TENKAWA I'M NOT FUCKING BI!" Akito leaned back on the couch and began laughing hysterically. "Well, we've gotten our Junny back, haven't we?"

Jun's jaw hinged freely for a few moments, with little noises escaping from his mouth. He then sat on the couch next to his best friend and punched him in the arm. "Fuck you, Tenkawa. But… thanks. I think I love all you guys too."

"Oh, good, so you'll join in on our orgy planned after Meg and Rumiko's wedding?"

"Damn you, you fucker." But it was said with a smile, so Akito knew he had done his job right.

~*~

They didn't hear the story until the next morning at breakfast. Yurika came down to the dining room after adventuring around to bottom floor and finally finding the dining room, which was currently occupied by very few people actually eating. Gai was reading the newspaper, but occasionally laughing, so he must have been reading the comics. Itsuki was looking over some official looking papers and showing Gai some of the things as if he cared. Hikaru looked to be writing something on a piece of printer paper. Ryoko was showing Akito exactly how he could break a guy's legs in one sweep and possibly knock him unconscious in another blow. Izumi was making sure Ryoko didn't actually break Akito's legs, making sure they didn't break anything else, and eating an omelet at the same time. Jun, weird enough, was just sitting and eating a piece of toast and bacon in silence.

Hikaru noticed that Yurika was up first, and smiled at her. "Ohayou, sleepy-head. Didn't even get up when I did." Ryoko looked up and dropped Akito, whom she was holding by his head, and pretended to not be doing anything. "Ano… How does my tank top fit?"

Yurika looked at herself. She had pinned her monstrous hair up impossibly, and was wearing not only Ryoko's white tank top, which was a bit on the small side, showing a little of her belly, but Itsuki's embroidered jeans, which were also a little tight around her thighs. "They fit okay enough. I'll call Erina today, tell her how much of a bitch she is, and ask her to send my stuff over here. At least my clothes… What's for breakfast?"

"Whatever's in the kitchen or on the table. I'm not cooking anymore, though, until later, keep that in mind. What's this with you and Erina?" asked Akito, looking sidelong at Jun. The oldest man stood and left the room, still crunching on his toast. Yurika could not miss him leave, as he actually brushed right past her without so much as a "ohayou". She ignored this and figured that he wasn't comfortable with her being here. She walked over and sat in the seat right next to where Izumi would have been sitting if she weren't making sure Akito wasn't being killed by Ryoko. She grabbed a piece of bacon and put it in her mouth. "Nah, I'm not all that hungry. I'll just snack until later." She didn't even notice that she was sitting next to Gai until she heard his voice next to her. "Okay, enough stalling. Out with it. I don't scar myself for life for nothing, here. Yes, I had to see you naked. Aer, I don't ever want to see that again." He covered up his eyes, obviously trying to cover up the visual with something more appealing to him. Most likely the same sort of image that instead featured the man that was now leaning against the table yelling at Ryoko for trying to kill him and almost succeeding.

Yurika propped her head up with her elbows on the table. "Well, I was really pissed off at the time… Now I'm not quite so pissed off about it. I guess because I had a while to think about it, you know?" She sighed, then actually gave a real explanation. "Erina and I are done. I found out that she was fucking Kaguya behind my back."

"OUCH!" cried most of those present. Izumi crossed her arms and sat back in her seat. "Doesn't surprise me. I may be good with a gun and a ukulele, but I'm a weakling, and I can't trust a bitch like Erina any farther than I can throw her. No offense, Yurika-san." Yurika bit her lip, obviously keeping something secret, but Izumi didn't pry. Akito slammed his fist on that table. "Erina? I fucking blame Kaguya! It's your rivalry with her that did this; you know that, don't you, Yurika? She wanted what you had so she took it, after you took it from her, of course. She probably seduced Erina to keep quiet about it or something… how did you find out anyway?"

Yurika went out of the room, but came back with her purse and a bunched up piece of cloth. Dark blue cloth. "These, Akito, would be Kaguya's underwear. I found them in the living room of our apartment." Most of those around the table winced again. Itsuki stood and took them from Yurika, inspecting them. Ryoko gave her the weirdest look but didn't get to ask. "Hmm, they look like something that 'I wish I was Kazamo Itsuki' whore would wear. Granny panties though." Hikaru pounded her fists on the table. "Hey, Itsuki, I wear granny panties!" Yurika made a disgusted face, but Itsuki retorted quickly, "I know, how else do you think I know what they look like?!"

"Fuck you, Itsuki!"

"Hey, Hikaru, no passes at my girlfriend! You got kissed by your boy, stick with that, won't you?"

"How did you know?" Gai caught Hikaru's eyes. "Who here doesn't know? Hikaru, we're the ones that eavesdrop, remember?"

"Oh, you all suck ass." Hikaru looked defeated but still like she had fight in her. Yurika shook her head. "Is this how it always goes with you guys?" Izumi smacked her forehead. "Why does everyone always ask that? Isn't it obvious that the answer is yes?"

~*~

Yurika had been led on a rather half-assed tour of the house. She was show where the bathrooms were, whose bedroom was whose (though she didn't need to know where Hikaru's was, she slept in the other bed the night before, and she never saw Jun's), told the rules of the hot tub room (if both Akito and Gai are in their bedroom, no hot tubbing in the house, outside is fine), and shown where the kitchen and dining room were (though she discovered that on her own earlier that morning), they seemed to leave her to her own demise. She hadn't seen Jun since breakfast, and Hikaru was beginning to annoy Akito from his own reading of her things to make lunch or she was going to eat his head. Yurika decided that it was time to walk around the house to see if she could find her ex-fiancée.

There was an interesting amount of rooms that she found, including a mirror room, a gym, a library, a pantry, a laundry room, even a bar and a ballroom. But no Jun. Even upstairs, she found all the bathrooms, all the bedrooms, even a few extra rooms related to the bigger bedrooms, but still no room that was Jun's. At a loss, she decided to go outside and realized that there was another entire wing to the house that wasn't connected in any way. She stepped outside and looked inside the door windows of the side house. It was lit, like all the other rooms, but there was a flicker of light ever minute or so. She could see Jun standing by the desk, which was the source of the light, sort of. She knocked on the door and heard a distinct "Go away! I want to be alone!" from inside, but Jun didn't look to see who it was. She opened the door and stuck her head in. "Jun-kun, I think we need to talk."

Jun didn't turn this time either. "Didn't I fucking tell you to go away?" Yurika wrapped her arms around herself and looked about. The room smelled very strongly of ash, melted wax, and even a bit of burning paper. She could see a lot of candles around in a circle next to the couch, melted, but cold to the touch. Foosh. It was also unbearably hot in the room. She even considered taking off Ryoko's tank top and just being in Itsuki's jeans and her bra. Foosh. What WAS that sound? It sounded like something being set ablaze instantaneously. She looked over to Jun. She could see what he was doing now, especially with a familiar box on the floor next to his desk. There was a stack of old papers next to the edge of it. He picked up a page and glared at it. Foosh. It caught fire and was gone in a second, the fire extinguished and more blackened dust in his fingers. He picked up another. Then Yurika realized what was in that box. His poems.

"What are you doing, Jun-kun? You love those!"

"No, I wrote them out of love, yes, but that's gone. Izumi and Akito think it's a good idea for me to let loose and do this. Are you going to try to stop me?" After setting another on fire, he turned to her, anger and hate playing in his dark blue eyes. Yurika felt uncomfortable under that gaze. Very much so. But she knew what she had to do. She took a slow step forward. Then another. Another. Until she was face to face with Jun. She picked up the stack of papers, dropped them into the box, which caused him to glare at her just a bit more. But then his eyes softened when there's met. She was sorry, beyond words, she couldn't even tell him how sorry she was, other than looking him in the eye and hope that he could see it. She saw his angry face relax a bit, still upset, but not pissed off enough to kill her. She, shaking, raised her arms and wrapped them around his neck, pulling him close and burying her face into his shoulder. Jun felt himself wrapping his own arms around her waist. He closed his eyes and gave way to this embrace, feeling better than he had in weeks. Her rubbed his cheek against her head like a cat, reveling in the softness. "Oh, Yurika… How could I ever say any of those things to you? How? I'm so cruel and evil, you should hate me…"

Yurika, crying, shook her head. "No, Jun-kun. How could I do those things to you? You're my best friend. You've always been there for me but I've always pushed you away. I'm sorry. Just… so very sorry. Can you ever forgive me, Ju-Junny?" He felt his heart leap when she called him by the same name that those he lived with and cared for deeply called him out of love. He hugged her tighter. "Yes, Yurika. Yes, yes, a million times yes. Anything. I love you…"

She pulled away suddenly. She shook her head. "Junny, you're still my best friend, but… I don't love you that way. I just… don't. I'm sorry." She walked away from him and to the door. She opened it, but looked back at him, a small smile on her face. "Don't worry, Junny. I'll be a better friend from now on. Not having your approval hurt me, and I'm glad we're still friends." She left him in his living room.

He sighed and collapsed into his desk chair. Friends. It was much better than before, that was for sure. But… friends. The dead zone of any man in love, or even just lust. Jun glared at the box on the floor, and wiggled his fingers. The whole thing caught on fire, and was a pile of ash before Jun could will the fire away again. He'd been planning on doing it one-by-one, so that he would get so much more satisfaction from it, but there was no way he'd be able to do that now. Still, he wanted to be rid of any sign of his being in love with her, ever. Perhaps it was a bit foolish, but he just wanted to start over and hope that his feelings for her had subsided.

But after that particular fiasco… "Fat chance," he whispered, getting up and going upstairs for his hand-vacuum. He needed to clean up the room since there wasn't going to be anymore burning poems.

~*~

"Aqua Crimson, CEO of the Crimson Corporation and predator to men, will do so no more. She too has been found brutally murdered from her home. Good evening, I'm Anastasia Ball."

"And I'm Andy Suarez. Crimson, only twenty years old and one of the young business leaders of the time died early this morning because of an intruder in her home. Drew Evans is on Tenician Island and the estate where she was killed. Drew?"

"Yes, Andy, I'm standing in the courtyard of the Crimson Estate on this island on the Equator. Behind me is the mansion that she lived in alone with her butler, Linwood Jacobson, who found her when he entered her bedroom to awaken her this morning. Now, we weren't able to interview him on camera, but it is obvious that he is devastated at the loss of his employer and has already been ruled out by the police as a suspect of this terrible crime."

"Drew, you say that as if they absolutely know he didn't do it. How are they so positive?"

"Well, Andy, the only reason Jacobson is not considered a suspect is because of this murder's similarity to that of Kusakabe Haruki, who also was murdered in his home brutally and without any sign of intrusion."

"So, there aren't any broken window or doors that show any signs of break-in?"

"Well, the police aren't completely sure, as it may take a while to actually see if this can also be seen as related to that murder, but as of right now they don't see anything and they are calling in special investigators to make sure of this and have also sent some back to the crime scene of Kusakabe's home to compare extra evidence they may have missed."

"That's interesting, have they disclosed what sort or evidence they are looking for?"

"No they have not, but after last week's press release that the suspect in Kusakabe's murder may be a Jumper, we suspect these may be those capable or with the right equipment can detect if any Boson Jumping, magic or the like were present at the time of the murder."

"All right, thanks, Drew. Very scary stuff."

"Very scary stuff indeed, Andy. But that doesn't seem to stop pro-Jumper campaigners against the anti-Jumper movement. Another bombing attempt has been made during one small anti-Jumper convention in Paris…"

~*~

Itsuki covered her face with both hands and whispered, "Turn it off, Jiro." She rested her eyes on the heels of her hands, her fingers pushing into her violet hair. Gai nodded and turned the television off, the sat on the floor next to Itsuki's chair. He patted her arm and she actually began sobbing, something Itsuki would never do under normal conditions, but these sure as hell weren't normal conditions.

Gai pulled on the sleeve of her blue shirt, getting her to stop crying into her hands and wrapped his arms around her, hugging her tightly. He was sad too, as Aqua had been one of their oldest friends, but she wasn't his best friend, or the closest thing to it. Itsuki hid her face in his black shirt. "I once had a crush on her… I didn't anymore but I still cared about her… She was crazy but she was still my friend… How could something like this happen to her, Jiro? She lived on an island all alone. Who the fuck could have just gone to her house and killed her? Why? How could they do such a thing?"

He just shook his head, whispering, "I don't know, I don't know," and patting her back. Itsuki didn't have very strong ties to those within Yamada Manor. She was friends with them, yes, but she had never been very, very close to them except for Ryoko. Itsuki had no best friend. The closest thing she had to a best friend was her best friend from when they were kids, Aqua. She knew how to deal with Aqua drugging people, trying to die, or any of Aqua's other antics.

"She… she always wanted to die, Jiro. Always. She never lied when she said that she hated being happy. She wanted to be normal, not special, and because she couldn't she wanted to be someone else. She loved love, but she wanted to die. But… she never wanted to die alone. Never. She always wanted to make sure she did it right and went to the right place. So she wanted someone to go with her. But… the one thing she wanted most, to never die alone, and she was denied that because of some fucker." Itsuki laughed a little hysterically. "It's so easy for me to speak about her in past tense. That's so horrible. I hope she doesn't mind." She let go of Gai and wiped her eyes. Gai nodded slowly. "She was my friend too. But I know you loved her most. We'll… we'll crash the funeral, okay? Get a hold of some of her paralyzing agents and put them in the food. Just for her. You can say goodbye to her properly. I think she'd want it that way. Okay, honey?"

Itsuki nodded, but then suddenly grabbed his face and pressed her lips against his. Gai was not surprised, or even put off by this at all. Itsuki barely ever became upset, but when she did, either she needed to know someone was there for her or she would begin destroying things. She only kissed him to make sure she wasn't dreaming and that someone was actually trying to help her. She looked at the floor once she pulled away. "Sorry."

"It's okay. It's me, remember? How about… we go out and eat lunch, okay?" Itsuki nodded slowly and stood. Then she thought over his words and then wiped her mouth quickly. "Ew, I can't believe I kissed you. Again." Gai smiled. "Yeah, let's try to not do that again. How many times do I have to tell you that girls are yucky?"

"Yeah, you can have your damn cock. I'll take my tacos and sushi any day." Itsuki smiled slowly, trying to forget the blonde, part-Australian woman that was gone from her life now, even if she hadn't been in it much in recent years.

~*~

Mari had to pass an arcade everyday after work. She didn't have a car, but only because she liked walking, not that she couldn't drive. It was good exercise and she got to see all the things around her as the happened. It didn't really make much sense, but after realizing that her thighs were becoming more toned, she refused to give up walking to and from work. Though she often did opt for the subway, that was only when she figured she was so tired she would die. But she usually went the same route, watching stores close, open, buildings be torn down, parks turn into fast food restaurants, and the like. Change just happened these days, for no apparent reason other than just the sake of change.

She had received her invitation to Megumi's wedding just the other day. It was to be on Ninlan, which was a great deal away, but she figured she could catch a Jump shuttle there. She just wasn't looking forward to listening to the protestors. If only they understood that Jumpers were the new race of humans and that they were there to stay. She did, instead, look forward to finding a dress. She intended to do that the next weekend. If she wasn't too tired, she might of even done it that night. She thought about getting something blue, as Megumi hadn't specified what color she was supposed to wear.

But in any case, Mari had to pass an arcade when she walked home. She didn't really like arcades. There were too many games that she couldn't play well. But she stopped suddenly because she saw a very familiar person inside. She sighed and opened the door. Sure enough, there was that bleach-blonde head, sitting at a racing game. She walked over and patted his head. "Hey, Saburota, what are you doing here?"

He jumped at this and his car crashed into a wall. Game over. He glared at her. "Damn you, Mari. Isn't it obvious, making myself road pizza on this game." He ran his hand through his hair and gave a real answer. "Waiting for a contact. Bitch hasn't shown up and I've been here for an hour. I was just about to leave. What are YOU doing here?"

"Trying to figure out what your lame ass is doing here."

"Ah, so are you going to go now or have my charms have seduced you into staying?"

"Asshole." Nevertheless, Mari sat in the seat next to his, dug a token out of her purse from a previous visit because she was bored and lonely, and put it into the slot. She was actually a very good driver. "Play a round with you?" Saburota smirked and put his own token into his slot. After setting up the game, they began to play.

Saburota was a much more aggressive driver, passing people and barely hitting them, but knocking them out of the running. Mari was much more timid, just passing people and not even coming close to killing them. In fact, they had both become so focused on the game that once they had caught up to each other, it had completely left their minds that a crowd was forming and people were cheering them on. It was all about beating the other.

Mari drove toward the grass; Saburota followed. She did some swerves on the track; he followed. She slowed a bit, and he almost rammed her. These antics made the crowd go nuts, but they didn't hear it. Or they didn't until Mari felt a guy touch her shoulder, startling her into running into a wall. And of course, Saburota followed, and they both lost.

She glared up at the guy then stood. "What the fuck, man? I was winning!" The guy looked like a creep. Sure enough, in front of that group of twenty other antisocial arcade moths, he grabbed her breast. She barely had the chance to do anything about it. After all, Saburota had already punched the guy and he was standing in front of her, glaring at the pervert.

"And you people wonder why you never get girlfriends! You don't fucking just grope a girl unless she wants you to, and that's usually when she isn't asking you why the fuck you screw up her game, asshole!" The guy scrambled off and the others around them seemed to have shocked looks on their faces. Saburota glared at them too. "Well, what are you doing? You got the message, didn't ya? Get the fuck out of here!" That they did. Saburota grasped Mari's hand and led her out of the arcade, thoroughly pissed off.

Once outside, she pulled her hand out of his grip. "What the hell was that for? I was going to fucking kill him and you didn't let me! Who asked you to protect me, I can take care of myself!"

"Terra, I was just trying to defend your damned honor, is that so bad!?"

"Well I don't need you to! I'm a big girl, Saburota!" He rolled his eyes and walked away from her, mumbling something about her being an ungrateful bitch. She sat down on the ground. He didn't need to do that. She could have handled it. Why he did that was a mystery. Mari stood suddenly. She hated mysteries. She ran after her former coworker. "Saburota, wait!"

He stopped and turned to her. "Why, so you can yell at me some more?"

"Why'd you do that?"

"Can't let a asshole like that get away with it."

"No, no, you would have let him get away with it and even felt some pity for him. What's the matter with you, Saburota? You haven't been the usual playboy since we came back. You got a girlfriend or something?" Saburota burst out laughing. "Oh, no, not like that at least."

"Fine, you got a crush on me then."

"HOW THE FUCK DID YOU FIND OUT YOU WHORE?!?" Mari rubbed her ear, showing that he didn't need to shout. "You're not so much a pervert anymore. You don't go out on little sex-fests. And then you punch a guy for groping me. It's a little obvious." She continued walking, but he stopped. He cocked her head at her, then shook his head. "Psychic, I swear."

"No, that would be Megumi. By the way, did you get your invitation?"

"What? Oh, yeah. Apparently I'm supposed to wear my robes but I say as long as I show up in green they can't throw me out. Why?"

"Go shopping with me tomorrow."

"Ew, shopping? What, do you think I'm one of your girlfriends?"

"Just do it. I'll call you after I get off work tomorrow, okay?"

"Tch, fine. Only if we get ice cream now."

"Blackmailer."

"Skank."

"Bastard."

"Bitch."

"Fuckwad."

"…what?"

"Exactly. Let's go."

~*~

In the middle of the week, the bar was usually rather empty. There were the usual loonies, goths, and other people with nothing better to do on a Wednesday night. One rarely ever saw many business types there. But that night there was, and two of them at that. And, as far as those that had to go to the bathroom to readjust their striped stockings, they seemed to be drinking together.

Viktor slapped some money and his yellow tie on the counter and swallowed yet another shot. Goat rolled his eyes and tried to take the glass from the Nergal Head of Accounting. Tried, of course, being the key word. Viktor shook his finger at him. "No, that's mine, you can't have it!"

"Viktor, you're drunk."

"Yeah? You are too you big, uh, goat!"

"But I can hold it and I don't become stupid. You, on the other hand do."

"I do not! I can drink approximately two-hundred-forty-two drinks in one sitting and not do anything dumb and did you know that that's pi by seven?" Goat had already taken his calculator when he tried to use it as a gun. He always had trouble getting Viktor to stop drinking, but they only went when he felt bad, or lonely. This time, it was the latter.

"Yes, I did. You said that earlier. And yes, while you may still be capable of computations in your head, you still start doing rather dumb things. Don't argue with me because I'm not in the mood and you couldn't get a good debate going right now if you tried. Now, will you please just tell me why exactly you dragged me here?"

"A'ight. Didja get your inviti … invita…"

"Invitation to Miss Reinard and Emperor Adagio's wedding? Yes."

"Sho…. You jealous too?" Goat was silent. Despite Viktor being completely and totally out of his right mind at the moment, he could easily figure out what the hell he was talking about. It was a little scary actually. He played about with his glass, watching the golden liquid slosh about.

"I suppose. Well, shit, Viktor. I'm bordering on my thirty-fifth birthday and I'm not married. Miss Reinard's only twenty and she's already got her family for the rest of her life, hopefully, set in front of her! And you, you're only two years younger than me, you must be wondering what the hell's been going on, haven't you?"

"Bu-bu-but, weren't you weeth Minato for a leetle beet?" Viktor made a move for Goat's glass but the large man kept it away from him. "No fun, that's what you are."

"I was for a small amount of time. But that was before she got engaged."

"To a dead guy." Goat had to admit it, Viktor was making far too much sense. "It doesn't matter. YOU dragged ME here, what's the matter with you?"

"Jes' hold on. Why don't you go and shay, 'Minato, please have sex with me…'?"

"Because I have dignity, unlike some other person to my left slobbering all over himself. You are going to have a horrible hangover tomorrow."

"Worth it. You're fun, you know that, Goat? Hah! Why'd yer mudder name you that, eh?"

"She didn't. Viktor, are you going to get on with it? Or am I going to have to leave you here?"

"No! Don't go! Shtay… Welp, I don't ever get no womans. Nobody like me."

"That's it, no more drinking for you. Ever. Out to the car, Viktor. Now. The slurring is getting horrible. Goat got their coats from the rack, picked up the one called Prospector's tie off the counter and left some cash. He pushed the tripping, swaying man out to an orange-yellow car in the parking lot. "I am going to drive you home and you are going to bed. Also, you are absolutely not showing up tomorrow. You're not allowed."

"You can't force me to stay home!"

"Oh yes I can. Want to bet me?"

"Absolutely not. I'll lock you in your house if I have to. Don't even start with me, Viktor, you know I can." He started the car. Goat could not only drink anyone under the table, but he was actually capable of driving as well. But he hadn't much of anything to drink in the first place. Most of his money went to drowning Viktor. As usual. The little lush.

"You didn't answer me, why'd yer mudder name you Goat anyways?"

"I think it's fair. You never answered as to why you dragged me out to pay for you to get drunk."

"Fine fine, I thinks I gots a crush on somebody."

"Oh, well, that's better. Who?"

"That's the problem. I don't remember anymore. It might be Hikaru. I dunno. Maybe it's Megumi. I don't remember." The purple-haired man giggled, making Goat sigh. "You are something else, Viktor."

"Is that so?" Viktor looked at him. Goat could still see that he was out of it, completely and totally, but there was some kind of seriousness in his face. Almost sad. Viktor nodded. "Maybe I am something else. Who knows. Now, your name…?"

"Another day. This thing is obviously kicking your ass, and you're letting it do so. Besides, here's your house. Do I have to walk you up so that you don't just sleep on the lawn or will you be okay?"

"I'll be okay. Viktor stepped out of the car, but then fell into the grass. "On second thought… help?" Goat shook his head. He was impossible. "You are never going drinking again. Ever."

"Aw. No fun." A giggle. Goat rolled his eyes as he slung Viktor's arm over his shoulders. "Up."

~*~

TBC…

~*~

A/N: Um, yeah. That was… odd, actually. There isn't much to be said about this. Okay that's a lie. Anyway. Yeah. Yurika is sleeping in the other bed in Hikaru's room. And… stuff. Haha funny stuff. I know things. Hehe. Anyway. Yeah. Stuff's beginning to lead to stuff and later stuff and just STUFF, like next time! Yes, next time we will actually do the wedding between Rumiko and Megumi. That's right folks. I don't know right now if it will be two chapters and split like with the Peaceland Ball, but I can probably put my money on it being so. So, yeah, this chapter was supposed to make people realize that I am doing something and that there is a purpose to this slow madness. So, you know the drill. Review me because you love me, or just do it because you think I suck (I think you might be wrong though), but please because I live off this stuff. Next chapter will come as soon as the block gets out of the road! Okay, ciao! 


	18. Back to Ninlan

A/N: Hehehe. Well. Anyway, this is… chapter 18! You know what I noticed though? Not only have we already by-passed LnDHnS in length, we've broken the 100,000 words barrier! YAY! Someone grab the confetti! Also, we're bordering on 600 pages of these series total. Yeah, is just me gloating. Aren't you glad you've made it this far with us? You've come a long way. Well, there is still a very, very long way to go. Enough reflecting. So, yeah, Yurika's living at Yamada Manor now. And, if you didn't catch it, yeah, Aqua's been killed. I told you the plot would soon be much more apparent soon. Well, we still got a long way until we begin focusing on nothing but. But it's made an impact, at least. And Prospector… I don't know what's up with him. I require him to deliver something, and he doesn't even complete it. I don't know. Maybe he'll bring up something at the wedding or whatever. Anyway. Last time… Yurika and Jun are on okay terms again, other than her moving in and sleeping in the extra bed in Hikaru's room (thought there was two beds for no reason, eh? ^^). Aqua's been murdered, Itsuki is devastated, Saburota got figured out by Mari, and Prospector is deserving of ALL my glares. -_- Anyway, this time, we go back to Ninlan. Why? Well… I said that this chapter would be the wedding, right? Well… that was a lie. Well, not really. I just… aw dammit. Okay, we didn't make it to the wedding this time. That will definitely be next chapter though, I swear. This is just most of the stuff leading up to it. Anyway. Yeah. I'll shut up now. Let's see exactly how this goes and who will show up. ^^

~*~

The only people that had used the Jump shuttle of our watch had been Rumiko and Megumi, so those that were en route to Ninlan were very surprised when a number of them entered the stations. They had expected to see many anti-Jumper protestors, of course, and they were not let down in this assumption. No, what was odd was how many of them were stopped from getting on the shuttle at first. There was a scanner, apparently, that checked ones body for nanomachines. So, of course, every single resident of Yamada Manor missed the first shuttle to Ninlan. The next one was to depart twenty minutes later, but the process had to be explained as to why they had to accommodate for them.

"Worst plane-treatment, EVER!" shouted Hikaru. Yurika nodded. The redhead had voiced the very thoughts she was thinking. But Izumi was relaxed. "It's probably that they'll think we'll jam up their frequency or something."

"You have you admit, Izumi, that makes more sense than it should. Besides, it's Ninlan. Gai-chan found the damn planet. I would think we know what it looks like." Akito was currently sitting in a very uncomfortable plastic chair attempting to get a little nap before they had to go. After all, he figured they would not be able to sleep while on a Jump shuttle, especially with him, well… all of them, being denied because they were Jumpers. Ryoko was wearing a hole in the rough blue carpet with her pacing. "You'd think they'd know how do deal with Jumpers anyway! I'm sure we're not the first to need to go to Ninlan or Jupiter or anything, and with all of the strict laws regarding it, shuttle is all we have now!"

"I assure you, we know how to put Jumpers through a shuttle, but the problem is that it was short notice. We've prepared a special section of our next shuttle for you, however, and because we're going to have to ask you to help, it will be free." The timid man bowed deeply to the group, who only regarded him politely. Itsuki laid a finger on her cheek. "So what are we going to have to do?"

"Well, we understand you've been on Ninlan before, but before there was a Jump station in Carmina. We'd like you to visualize some places in Ninlan. There's only one Jump station there thus far and the only other Jump field there is inaccessible."

"Um, does that count the Forest of Femininity?" asked Jun. The man looked confused, but Gai patted the oldest man's shoulder. "Don't worry about that, Junny, we'll just think of anything but that."

"I still don't think this is very fair. We have to Jump the next shuttle there?"

"I'm afraid so. But since you have to put yourselves out, the trip is completely free." Yurika nodded and shifted her suitcase on her lap. "Hey, I'm all for it. Free trip and a chance to show off, ne, Akito?" Akito just glared at her and she rolled her eyes.

Akito and Yurika had been at odds with each other for the past two weeks. While she had made at least some amends with Jun, Akito would not stand her. Their last fight was a night or so ago, when Akito screamed at Yurika for being such a bitch to those she loved and for being such a whore at the same time. Yurika yelled at Akito about him being such a hypocrite, a general asshole, and unable to put the past behind him. They were now giving each the silent treatment, but Yurika was trying to make things up again, no matter how much Akito refused to listen.

The new accommodations in the shuttle were a lot nicer than a usual shuttle. The door was locked before they arrived, and the things in there looked to be growing a thin layer of dust, but it was generally nice. The room was warm, with red seats for each of them and even a few more, if it was needed. There was more than enough room for their suitcases, which were bulky only because of their nicer clothes that they had to bring. It was mere moments after becoming situated that a communications window opened up to them.

"Are all of you ready?" There was a chorus of rather bored sounding affirmative. Itsuki, Izumi, Gai, and Jun all looked quite nervous indeed. Ryoko and Hikaru, while not so new to the process, we also at least a little bit afraid as well. Akito was at ease, but was obviously going to struggle with coming up with the image. Yurika, on the other hand, close her eyes from surveying their faces and smiled. Whether she and Erina were a thing or not, which they were not anymore, she was still one of Nergal's Jump pets. It was as easy as breathing to her now.

The room became dark and she heard the familiar ring of activated CCs over the hum of the engine of the shuttle. She instantly brought up the thoughts of Carmina. Although she only knew what it looked like a full year ago and she knew the entire planet was going through technological renovations, she stated very clearly with her mind that she wanted to be there as it was NOW, not a year ago. She felt the familiar pull on her stomach and let it lead her, knowing full well that she was probably glowing in a very lit up room.

WHAM! Even without opening her eyes, she knew they were there. The shuttle slowed to a halt and the sounds left her, except for that of someone getting sick. She opened her eyes and looked at her housemates again. Akito was sighing in relief. Jun was fanning himself, breathing heavily. Hikaru was looking very disoriented, like she didn't know where she was. Gai was surveying his body, as if to make sure all the parts were still there. Ryoko was struggling to undo her seat belt, and Yurika saw why. Itsuki was the one throwing up in the bags provided in the seats. But once she got it off, she didn't run to her girlfriend, she grabbed Hikaru's bag, vomiting into it as well. Once she had come up for air, she explained, "My seat didn't have one."

Yurika undid her seat belt, stood, and shrugged, reaching over her head for her suitcase. The intercom began sounding the usual things, "please remain seated until you are dismissed… we are now in Carmina, the capital of Ninlan…" and thus began giving a history of the planet and the city they had landed in. As it was all recorded, they ignored it.

After shaking hands with the operators of the shuttle and the Carmina station, they had the difficult task of wondering about the city to try to find the Ecclesiastical palace. It was nice to not be met with the shouts and jeer of anti-Jumpers for once, but there was one thing that was a little odd. The place looked like any city on Earth… about three hundred years ago. Yurika squeaked at how everything looked. It was just so classic and lovely, she couldn't contain herself. Akito rolled his eyes, this time, earning him a stuck out tongue from Yurika.

It took them nearly an hour to get good directions to the Ecclesiastical Palace. Well, along with walking there. They didn't trust the look of the sad attempts at cars. Not to mention that Hikaru and Izumi were often to busy gaping at the very things they loved and studied and obsessed about in their most purest forms. But they got there, way past four in the afternoon. Thankfully, the wedding was the next day.

They were greeted by not only Rumiko and Megumi, but Igadosu and Minato as well. There were hugs and handshakes all around, not to mention a large amount of shrieking on Yurika, Megumi, and Minato's part. They were led, luggage and all, into the throne room, chattering away in the way that some of the most perverted former crewmembers could only do.

The throne room was somewhat large, but not imposing, and actually fairly empty. There were all sort of different size boxes and bags, all of which could be assumed were wedding gifts. Their group had, actually, only brought two gifts, but with one being extreme expensive and delicate, and the other being extremely cute and delicate, it was all right. There were also chairs in the room, and not just the two elaborately decorated ones, either. Chairs more suited for people to sit in and talk over coffee, not lounge in. But lounging in one was exactly what Yukina was doing, while Ruri sat in one much more appropriately. Ruri, surprisingly enough, was the first to speak. "You are late."

Yurika's jaw dropped, along with her suitcase, and she rushed over and hugged Ruri. "Oh my God of Spirit, Ruri, I can't believe you're here! Are things any better at home? However did you get to come without your parents? Let me look at you." Yurika sat on her haunches, holding Ruri's arms out so she could make sure the girl didn't sport any bruises. Yurika had, obviously, expected the worst. Ruri let out a small smile. She was more than fine. She was now happy. She felt hand fall onto her shoulders. "Okay, Yurika, I think she's had enough of you stretching her arms out." Yurika gave the person behind Ruri a dirty look, but let go of her. Ruri would have to thank Akito, as it was beginning to hurt a bit. He wrapped his arms around Ruri's neck and kissed her cheek. "It's really nice to see you here Ruri. You didn't answer Yurika though, even if I don't blame you."

"Tenkawa, don't you dare use her as ammunition, you ass!" Ruri smiled, causing Yurika's jaw to drop again in shock. "I am fine. Otousama and Okaasama may be in a state of perpetual anger with each other, but I promise that I do have at least three allies at home." The hug around her neck grew tighter, almost in protection, but not uncomfortable. She closed her eyes. And felt her hands be collected by Yurika. She reopened them and looked her former captain in the face. "It is hard, but it's all right, Misumaru-san. I am a woman now, after all." Ruri would have relished the look of surprise and happiness that took over Yurika's face if it were not un-Ruri-like. But it was, so she didn't.

"Oh, I see. It's all just so lovely and beautiful, isn't it? Jun-kun, do I get a hug too? I get to see Minato all the time." Hikaru got to laugh as Jun turned the color of his red nanocontroller. Yukina did as well, then got up from the chair she was ever-so-crudely sitting on. "So, am I taking some of their crap up to the specified rooms?" Minato looked over the ensemble of suitcases, duffels, and other luggage. "Well, yes, I'd suppose so, ne?"

Ryoko was already picking up her things. "Wait, designated rooms?" Megumi nodded. "Yeah, we don't have unlimited space here, but we can't exactly ask you all to spend money on an inn. Don't worry though, Ryoko, you'll still be bunking with Itsuki. Third floor, east wing, fifth door from the stairs on the left. You can't miss it. Also…" Megumi looked at her left hand and arm, showing that she had, in fact, written many of the room assignments on her skin there. "Izumi, you're with Inez. I'm sure we can get her to show you where it is, but if you want to find it yourself, it's second floor, east wing, and seventh door on the right from the stairs. Akito, you and your… lover will be in west wing, first floor, and fourth door from the left from the door. It's over there on your left, past the dining hall and take a right past the stairs. Hikaru and Jun-kun, you'll be rooming together. West wing, first floor, second door from the left. Two doors away from Akito, so you can't get lost. Yurika…" She scanned her arm, and even checked her other one. "Well, we DID have you scheduled to room with Erina, but when she arrived with Kaguya… Kaguya kind of took your spot." She made a face. "Sorry."

"It's all right. If those bitches want to sleep together, who am I to complain? Where am I now, then?"

"That's… kind of the problem. Rumiko, did we have a room for Yurika?" Rumiko was way ahead of his bride-to-be, looking over his clipboard of who was with who and where. "Actually… with the changes that came with Erina bringing Kaguya, we never got around to fixing it."

"Rumiko, I refuse to let her go to that inn!" Igadosu shrugged. "She can always have my room. I can just go to the inn instead. I'm used to things here." Rumiko whirled onto his former superior. "Igadosu, you are my fellow assist, I refuse to let you not stay here. It was be… disrespectful."

"Oh, as if you're one for respect?"

"Megan, so help me, we may be getting married tomorrow…"

"But you two certainly have the art of emulating a married couple down!"

"Izumi, I don't think that was very wise…"

"Put a sock in it, Itsuki, that's gotta be the funniest thing she's said in years."

"That's because you wouldn't know a joke if it bit you in the ass."

"What did you just say?!?"

"Exactly. Thank you for proving my point."

"Misumaru-san could just take my spot in Minato's room." Yukina's statement stopped all the buzzing arguing to stop. All of the adults slowly turned to the auburn-haired Jupiterian. Minato caught her voice first. "Yukina, if she takes your place, where will you sleep?" Yukina sighed. "Isn't it OBVIOUS, Minato? I'll stay in Ariko-chan's room!" Ruri regarded Yukina. "Are you sure he would agree?"

"absolutely! I'll just have to make sure he knows. Where is the little brat, anyway?"

"Playing and losing a game against Omoikane in my room." Yukina nodded. "So I'll go tell him. Is everything fixed now?"

Megumi and Rumiko were busy plotting the sudden changes. "Yes, actually, that would be great, my little assistant. Thanks, Yukina!" said Megumi, smiling in a way that Yurika would have done… over a year ago. Yukina nodded and gave a thumbs-up. "Saving the day is my middle name!" She was gone in a flash. Ruri shook her head and whispered, "Hontou, baka baka."

Jun looked at Minato. "How do you live with her, Minato?" Minato laughed. "I had a little brother than decided that he was going to do great things. He was almost exactly like her."

Yurika picked up her suitcase. "Well, Minato, lead on, because Megumi wasn't nice enough to tell me where I'll be sleeping other than 'Minato's room', and of course we had to pry that out of Yukina instead." Megumi stuck her tongue out at her former rival. "Burn in hell, Yurika."

"Planning on it, dear, planning on it." Minato laughed and led Yurika to the right side of the throne room, towards the east wing. Rumiko glanced about, then slapped his forehead. "Gods-damn it all to the five layers of hell. We let Yukina get out of luggage-lugging duty." Ryoko rolled her eyes. "I can carry Itsuki's and my stuff…" Itsuki nodded. " Not to mention I can carry my own." There was a lot of agreeing, until they came to Hikaru and Jun. Hikaru looked at her bag and shook her head. "Oh hell no. Do you realize how fucking heavy that dress is? No way am I carrying my own shit." Jun was able to pick his own up fine, but found himself on the floor when he tried to pick up Hikaru's as well. "Flamma, what's in this?"

"Bathroom stuff, nightshirt, casuals, nice shoes, and of course my robes because I didn't want Rumiko to pop a cap in my ass like he will everyone else." Luckily for the everyone else, except Jun, that Hikaru spoke of, they were already gone. Rumiko heard this, which is why it was very good that they were already gone. "What did you just say?"

Hikaru sighed. "I just SAID that everyone is cheating on the 'wear your robes' rule. They figure as long as they wear their cloaks over it, they're good. I, on the other hand, and Ryoko and Gai, are all being good children and following the rules." Jun grew very red and tried to hit Hikaru with his bag so that she would shut up. Rumiko was growing red for a completely different reason. But because he could begin to yell, Igadosu laid a hand on his shoulder. "Rumiko, you need to stop being so anal. I know that's why they chose you, but I seriously doubt this is an infliction. Just… trying to let themselves not be harassed by a skinny man in a big hat."

Rumiko silenced himself, then waved his hand. "Fine, whatever. And I'm not skinny." Megumi snorted. "The hell you are. But I must disagree that it's a big hat. It's actually a rather small hat."

"Is it really? I haven't seen it, in fact…"

"Stop talking about my hat!" Hikaru giggled, then opted to drag her bag on the floor. "Junny, remember this moment if anyone asks you if Pentakami or even Ninlan itself is dysfunctional. I'm sure this says it all."

"You can sure believe it." Hikaru didn't come up with a comeback, because suddenly another hand covered hers and her bag was lifted from the ground. She glanced to her right to see that it was Ruri who was helping her. Ruri met her gaze and smiled slightly. "I may be a princess, but I'll be damned if I let someone go without help that I can give. Especially someone I've indirectly trusted my life with." Hikaru's jaw dropped. "Holy shit… Junny, did you hear that! Ruri just fuckin' swore!"

"Yes, I did hear that. It was rather nice hearing it from her, but just everyday garbage coming from you."

"Oh, shut the fuck up, Junny. I'll make you sleep on the floor." Ruri shook her head again and whispered, "Hontou, baka baka."

"Of course, Ruri-chan. We wouldn't be who we are if we weren't idiots." Ruri had to smile at Jun's comment. It was so very true.

~*~

Minato and Yukina had arrived a few days prior to when everyone else was to show up. Yukina hadn't liked having to help Jump the shuttle to Ninlan, but if it got them a free ride she didn't mind too much. Minato had arrived early because she was a little worried about making a mistake during the ceremony. Megumi had sympathized and the two of them convinced Rumiko to allow them to rehearse at least once. It really had drove it home to Minato that Megumi was going to be married, but it wasn't too bad. And with her early arrival, Minato had become better acquainted with Rumiko, Igadosu, and even Mythos, who was to make the joining possible between Megumi and Rumiko. Rumiko obviously held him in high esteem, despite the obvious tensions between them about the difference between the Pentakami and the Temple of Magus, and which was actually one of truth.

And they were arguing once again, in the dining hall that night. Megumi, Minato, and Igadosu voted to ignore them, though Igadosu did interject certain points into their conversation, obviously trying to cause trouble.

Minato had fallen silent, looking around her to try to identify all of those that had been invited. Megumi had not been lying when she said she invited mostly those that had attended the Peaceland Ball. There was Ruri and Ariko, no mistake, but their parents were not invited. Omoikane, Uribatake, Inez, How Mei, the girls (who were on a lull while waiting for their single to come out), Goat, Viktor, the pilots, Jun, Yurika, Erina and Kaguya. Minato still wondered why Megumi invited them, but the only explanation she got was "well, Erina WAS on the Nadesico…" so she didn't question any further. Saburota and Mari, mostly because Mari brought him and Megumi and Mari were trying to catch up. Lapis and Hari. There some others that she couldn't recognize, but by a glance she could tell that they were Ninlandish. Probably some people from Somenolenthe, the town Rumiko once resided in and the town that Igadosu still lived in. A handful here and there most likely from Carmina, looking at there more modern wear. Many in robes, which were most likely people from the church. But there were two, well, four people that Minato couldn't find.

"Megumi… why didn't you invite your family?" Megumi bit her lip and stared at her mostly empty plate. "Well… we don't speak anymore." Minato's eyebrows shot up. She didn't speak with her family much either, with her busy all the time, her brother busy all the time, and her parents… well, who the hell cared where they were anyway? But Megumi looked like someone who'd really be in touch with her family. "Why not?"

"Well, they were really angry with me when I said I wanted to stay in Japan after my exchange student program was over, even if my host family wanted me to stay if I wanted to. And… once I tried to contact them while I was here. They… well, they always have been very conservative…" She bit her lip again. Minato nodded slowly. "Anti-Jumper?"

"Mm-hmm. I told them I was Emperor's Consort, and they called me a filthy slut to an unnatural creature. My father even said it was bestiality. They just didn't understand that I love this asshole, despite how much we seem to fight." Megumi smiled a little then, and continued. "I… sent them an invitation. They sent me a letter back saying that I could be the Empress of Ninlan if I pleased, but my brother and sister would never hear about it from them. They told me not to bother writing to them again." Rumiko had finally broke off his discussion with Mythos and narrowed his eyes, looking at Minato. She could tell he wasn't glaring at her, just the situation. "We don't talk about Megumi's family anymore."

Megumi nodded. "That's true. We figured that, since we're getting married and all, we'd just be our own family. My parents can go do as they please." Rumiko nodded, rubbing Megumi's bare shoulder with one of his pale hands. She smiled softly at him. Minato rolled her eyes. "Man, I can't wait until tomorrow when it's expected for you two to be sweet instead of just nauseating."

"Oh, Minato! You've just spent too much time with Yukina. You're starting to sound like her." Minato laughed. "So, if you don't mind me asking, why'd you invite, well, a lot of the people here? Specifically those WE didn't even know until we met up with them on the Gardenia?" Megumi let go of her metaphorical leash on Rumiko to look around. "Well, I invited Erina just because, and she just brought Kaguya. Nothing I could have done there. I invited Mari because we knew each other in the industry and she brought Takasugi-san just because. And, well, Lapis and Hari-kun… I felt a little sorry for them."

"why?"

"Well… I wanted them to be able to be more interactive with us, you know? It's got to be hard to live under Ruri's shadow like that." Minato looked over at the silver-haired princess, eating politely with her brother and Yukina. Yukina and Ariko were having a very animated discussion about something, but just beyond them Minato could see both Lapis and Hari sitting very quietly. She nodded. "That is true… So you want them to know that it's not just Ruri?"

"Something like that. I don't really know… I just wanted them to mingle more with us Nadesico folks, you know?" Megumi bit her lip. "Minato… I'm sorry. I couldn't write it in my letter and I couldn't tell you when you told me… I'm sorry I lied about not knowing him."

Minato's eyebrows shot together. "Huh? What? What are you talking about Megumi?" Rumiko looked behind Minato's head, then turned to Megumi, obviously angry. "You mean you didn't tell her?!? And after all that drama you brought up about it." Megumi bit her lip so hard she thought it would bleed, but better that than cry. "I didn't tell her because I couldn't! I didn't know he was the one that did it! I didn't know anything and then when I didn't I couldn't face it!" Minato looked behind her to see that Genichiro had arrived. Megumi had, obviously, invited him because he had gone to the Peaceland Ball… hadn't she?

Minato grabbed Megumi's wrist across the table. "Meg, we need to talk." Megumi nodded quickly and stood, gathering her tan skirts as both she and Minato left the dining hall and went into the throne room. They were not alone, however, as Rumiko had come with them, most likely to try to be the voice of reason he never was. Once the door had shut, Megumi leaned against it, hugging herself. "I'm sorry Minato, I'm so sorry. I didn't even know." Megumi really was close to tears now. Minato set her mouth into a firm line. "Meg, I've had a lot of time to get used to the fact that the man I loved is dead. Not so much time to get used to the fact that it was he that did it. God dammit, Megumi, Yukina wouldn't speak to me for a week because I didn't tell her right away. Now what is it? Why did you invite him? I know it isn't just because he was at Peaceland Ball."

"That will be quite enough, Haruka-san." Rumiko stood between the two women, arms stretched out as if to protect Megumi. "She wasn't the only one that invited him. I did as well. He has become our friend in this time when the Nadesico was missing." Megumi covered her face with her hands. "Minato, I didn't tell you that I knew him because I wanted it to be a surprise. Our friend was his best friend. I knew that he was trying to be nice to you for a reason at the ball, so I pretended that I didn't know him when you told me about him that day. I wanted you to think that… he came to you first or something. I don't know. I wasn't thinking clearly. But when you told me… I didn't have the heart to tell you that he…"

"It was Genichiro that helped Ninlan get on her feet in this solar system and make herself known," stated Rumiko softly. Minato's jaw dropped. Megumi was staring at the floor. "I knew him because I had to give him everything that we wanted to be said to Earth and Jupiter and all them about Ninlan. I… he never told me he was the one that killed him, just that he was his best friend when we recognized each other and that he was carrying a large sin upon his shoulders. He… he was the first non-Nadesico non-Ninlandish mage that we found. Flamma's Tears."

"Why… why didn't you tell me?"

"I don't know!" screamed Megumi, now sobbing. She had no real reason for her actions those few months ago. She wouldn't normally get upset about something like this. She was embarrassing herself, she knew. That made her feel worse. She ran around Rumiko and wrapped her arms around Minato's shoulders, crying into her best friend's red tank top. Minato immediately wrapped her bare arms around Megumi. She heard her whisper. "Tell him to go away… please?" Minato nodded softly and looked at Rumiko. He raised his hands in peace and backed back into the dining hall. Once she was sure he was gone, Megumi hugged Minato more properly. "Minato, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry… I don't need this, please just forgive me?"

"Certainly. I'm a little disappointed, but it's in the past. Meg, you're my best friend. I'm only upset at Rumiko now. But what else is knew, ne?" Megumi giggled. She fell silent though. "Minato, I'm scared. I know, it'll just be like always, but…"

"Oh, you got jitters? Don't worry, it's okay."

"No, it's not okay. I've had time to get used to it, so I should be all right, but I'm still scared."

"Megumi, I know that you love him and he loves you. But cold feet is perfectly natural! I bet you anything Rumiko is feeling it too. Just remember that's it's just one day, and then things will be back to normal and you may even forget that you're married once in a while. Hell, you guys practically are anyway."

Megumi sniffed. "Minato, I'm sorry I lied. I was just… I don't know. But please tell me you'll still walk me to the altar?" Minato smiled. "Megumi, I am the goddess of forgiveness. We all know that revenge is nothing, after all, look at the Lizard War. It never would have happened if people would just forgive and forget. Of course I'll still walk you. I wouldn't say no for the world."

Megumi smiled and stopped hugging Minato. "Thank you."

"No problem. Now, let's go back. I want some of that cake before those pilots get at it."

~*~

Hikaru fell back onto the bed in Jun's and her room. There was only one, oddly enough, but they both had already claimed a side. She sighed out loud, causing Jun, who was bent over the pathetic-looking sink brushing his teeth, to look back. She didn't look up or start saying anything, so Jun went back to brushing his teeth. Once he had spit the stuff out, he wiped his mouth on the back of his hand and came back into their room. "That's just like them to stick us together, don't you think?"

Hikaru giggled and crossed her arms behind her head. "Serious. It's like they're trying to hook us up or something. Asswipes. 'Oh, Hikaru-chan and Junny are both still virgins, so let's stick them in the same room and hope they have lots of loud sex wink wink nudge nudge.' Could you get anymore obvious?" Jun laughed, sitting down on his side of the bed and pulled his brown button-down shirt off. He quickly replaced it with a black shirt, obviously part of his pajamas. Hikaru had already changed into her huge nightshirt.

"I think the only way they could get more obvious is if they decided that they would put a few… ACCESSORIES in the room, you know?" Hikaru smiled. A year ago, she would have wondered exactly what kind of drugs Junny was on to say something that was more fit for either her or Izumi to say. But now, after they had lived together for this long, they had finally been able to declare Jun corrupted, in almost all definitions of the word. Hikaru nodded her head, lifting a hand to take her glasses off. "That's so true. In fact, they would have if they expected that. Everyone knows you're very bottom, Jun." She folded up her glasses and set them on the oak side table.

Jun squeaked, ripped his pillow out from underneath the pale green blankets and hit Hikaru's face with it. She dropped her jaw and pointed at him. "You're lucky I'm too jet-lagged to give a shit or you'd be so dead."

"Oh really? Should I really be afraid of that statement?"

"Yeah, you claim that you still haven't had sex, yet? Ever been anally plundered by a pillow? I can do it." Jun rolled his eyes. "You guys and your obsession with me being bi…" Hikaru waved a hand at him. "Well, if you weren't so fun to tease about it, we wouldn't bother in insisting. You're just too fun to tease." Jun was now changing out of his pants, so Hikaru giggled and said, "And if you wouldn't do things like that." Jun pulled his pajamas pants on and wondered what the hell she meant. Then he realized that he had taken his pants off just after she had offered to rape him with a pillow. His face began to grow red. Hikaru laughed loudly. "See, Junny! Too funny!"

"Well how else do you expect me to react?"

"Not with complete and total embarrassment, at least! Leave that for when we do something really horrible. You're letting our game suck. Just do something and don't get so upset. Flipping me off or telling me to fuck myself in a calm and collected voice would do fine. It'll take practice." Jun sighed and lied down next to Hikaru, folding her hands on his chest. As it was late spring on Ninlan, and the continent both Carmina and Somenolenthe sit on was very south, it was far too hot to even think of going under the covers, even for Jun, who was comfortable in high temperatures. Hikaru already was spinning her finger, causing a small breeze that was much more pleasant than the stagnant, humid air. They were silence for a while before Hikaru reached over and turned the lamp off. Once in darkness, Hikaru broke the silence. "Hey… Junny? Do you think… we'll ever be considered the Three Angels again?"

"What, you, Izumi, and Ryoko? I don't know, why not?"

"Well… Mom called us that when we were in Pilot's training, and it just stuck. And since we were always all together and everything… But now, Izumi's with Miss Fressange, Ryoko's with Itsuki, I'm still the raging single girl, and we have to guys too, you know? I just… I just don't think we can be an exclusive group anymore. Do I make any sense, or am I really more jet-lagged than I thought?"

Jun was quiet, and for a while Hikaru thought he was already asleep. She wouldn't have blamed him. But he was thinking. Hikaru was lucky. She had friends. He hadn't ever really had any when he was a kid. He was always such a wallflower, and people usually only talked to him out of pity. But, despite the three girls having their obvious differences, there was some sort of bond between them that even a socially retarded person such as Jun could see.

"I don't think it really matters, you know, Hikaru? So what if you guys aren't completely exclusive. You have other people you can depend on, but at the same time, you guys are inseparable. That's what really counts. You three have some sort of attachment to each other that no one can break. I think that that's more important than whether you can say that you're part of a trio with a fancy name."

Hikaru smiled softly, understanding exactly what Jun had to say. She rolled onto her side and wrapped her arms around Jun's chest, resting her face on his back. She grinned when she imagined his face. She just squeezed him, rather than laughing however, and whispered, knowing he would hear her. "That's why we love you, Junny. You're so deep. You really know what people want to hear. And you're going to make some woman very happy someday." She let go and rolled back onto her back. She frowned. She had said the same thing to Uribatake when he told her she looked good without her glasses. It was a bad line, but she believed it when she said it. She was always attracted to guys that never looked the part of someone that would be relationship material, because they usually were the nicest and sweetest of all. She felt Jun pat her leg. "Thanks, Hikaru. And Flamma, I hope that's not her breast."

"That's my fat-ass leg, Junny. How short do you think I am!?"

"Very. And I can say as I please, Miss 'too-jet-lagged-to-carry-out-threats-of-pillow-rape'."

"Man, am I ever gonna live that remark down?"

"Oh hell no."

~*~

"If there is one thing about this ordeal, Ryoko, that's making me wonder about anything is that you are wearing a dress." Itsuki was laying on the pink bed their room had supplied, dressed in her yellow underwear and matching t-shirt with some sort of faded fairy printed on it. It made Ryoko laugh when she had dug it out. Ryoko, on the other hand, was putting on her own pajamas.

"Yeah, yeah… Megumi's letter said 'wear your robes' and guess what? Standard female robes are a Ninlandish dress and cloak of whatever color you're given. At least I'm not breaking the rules, unlike some other musician in the room." Itsuki hit her chest with her hand, gasping dramatically. "Oh, Ryoko, you wound me. Rumiko will just have to get over the fact that we can't be ordered around, we live too far away. However, I do have to say that I'm rather looking forward to seeing you in those again. I've only seen you in a dress once."

"Nadesico uniform was a short skirt, where were you?"

"Well, I must have forgotten. Besides, I don't really think that counts. And could you have brought any less sexy sleepwear?" Ryoko had a tank top with red stars on it, and little red shorts to match. "It's nothing like the gay fairy on your shirt. Besides, I don't think we should, you know… sleep together here. We're going to need to be in pretty well rested condition tomorrow."

"Oh, but Ryoko, I don't want either of us to sleep on the floor."

"Itsuki, stop being a dork. You know what I mean."

"Of course I do. I'm sure you feel a little uncomfortable fucking in Rumiko and Megumi's house, don't you? I find it a little kinky."

"It is NOT kinky. Terra, don't you ever suggest that again."

"Fine, fine. I understand. Megumi made me want to squirm today too."

"ITSUKI!"

"Not like that, you pervert. You need some new friends; Hikaru and Izumi have screwed with your mind. I meant how she looked at us, particularly me. You know she doesn't like homosexuals, right?"

"She doesn't?"

"Ryoko, you are such a genius. Of course she doesn't. Even if she's marrying what could possibly be seen as the head of the pro-Jumper movement, she's very conservative. She had trouble calling Jiro Akito's fuck-buddy, for Magus's sake." Ryoko had to admit; Itsuki did know quite a bit about the crewmembers that she didn't even know. It was always a little more than was on the grapevine, but never too much. "But… Magus and Terra have fucked, haven't they?"

"I sure hope They heard that. I think They'd get a kick out of it. I suppose so. Rumiko's told her to lay off about it before, and she didn't shoot daggers of hatred at Akito today, if you didn't notice. Well… not daggers of hatred because he's half-gay, more daggers of hatred because he's Akito."

"Yurika's been doing it too. It must be Akito-hunting season, and the girls just want him dead for one reason or another. I don't have a problem with him."

"You also live with him. What did you see in him, anyway?"

"Oh, you know. I have a thing for girly-folks, and he's… really in touch with his feminine side, if you know what I mean."

"You're right, he is so bottom. I'll have to ask Jiro, but I don't think he's had top once."

"Not once? What the hell? We trade off at least."

"Yes, and I quite like it. Jiro's just being an ass, I suppose. And did you just call me girly a second ago, Ryoko?"

"Heh, I was wondering how long it would take you to realize that."

"Bitch."

"But you love me."

"Yes I do. I love you enough to deny you wearing any form of pants under that dress tomorrow."

"Damn you, Itsuki!"

~*~

TBC…

~*~

A/N: Okay, that, my friends, are most of the events leading up to the wedding, which is next chapter! Why do I say most? Because, this was just day one, we haven't even covered the stuff in the morning beforehand! ^^ Anyway, I wasn't too happy with the top part, but it was actually very hard for me to do, so I did my best, even if I'm not happy with it. The rest did make me happy, particularly the thing with Minato and Megumi. I don't get to play with them often enough. Anyway, next time! The morning rush! The wedding! Possibly even some of the things after the wedding with the party! Yay! Okay, you know the drill, so I'll let you do your thing. Ciao! 


	19. The Wedding and the rush beforehand

A/N: Well, I've ignored this thing and the little thing in my mind that jumps up and down whenever I guilt myself about this for long enough, so here I am, not knowing or perhaps not even caring if you liked the last one. Well, let's talk like we always talk before we get the chapter going. Last time, people arrived on Ninlan for the next day's wedding ceremony between Rumiko and Megumi. Megumi and Minato had a short spat about Genichiro (I hope no one noticed the oops there…) and how Megumi was friends with him without even knowing that Genichiro was the one that killed Tsukumo. Also, Hikaru and Jun got to bond and we got a short look at our favorite little lesbian couple. Nothing all that important, I think… well, this time… the morning (and somewhat afternoon) rush, before and during the ceremony in agonizing detail… Anyway, it doesn't seem like much, but wow this is becoming huge. I'll shut up now. Go!

~*~

The morning of the wedding could only be described as nothing short of chaos. With many of the Nadesico's former crew being woken up by first attempts by palace staff, then by Megumi herself ripping sheets off, shouting that she didn't need this on her wedding day, and shrieking when she learned that a great deal of those she knew slept naked, many at the first breakfast were quite, how shall we say, grumpy. This in itself was enough for Rumiko to begin swearing like a sailor and shouting that if they had proper alarm clocks like Earth and those affiliated did, they wouldn't need this. His mistake was that some people had not had their morning tea, coffee, or otherwise caffeinated beverage, and were very incoherent in their sense, so the one who could deliver said electricity did so, causing Rumiko hair to stick out three feet from his head. And this was just first breakfast.

There were two because Megumi had made it very clear that, while it may be near-strictly a Ninlandish wedding, there were some of her own traditions that she was going to keep up. Specifically the one about the groom and the bride not seeing each other until the ceremony. This was hard to keep up, as many of those in Carmina that had come for the ceremony, a few photos, and interviews with whoever was available, had tried to get a good words from Rumiko on the whole thing. He had not expected this, and because the one that came up and said the great words people were beginning to like him for was unable to see him until later in the afternoon, he was dumbfounded and speaking in grunts. Although, as a few of his previous students had joked, this was not much of an improvement from his usual speech, it was quite clear that he was ready to kill them as reporters scrambled to scribble down the direct quote, "Tenkawa Akito, I swear to the Gods that if you do not keep yourself quiet I shall gag you for the rest of the day! I'm certain that both I and Megumi would enjoy it very much, don't you think?!?" Tabloids on Earth, later that week, ran stories of BDSM threesomes between the Emperor of Ninlan, his newly wed wife, and her former heartthrob. But that was later that week.

The second lunch, however, was a little quieter. Well, if just common chattering and loud laughter from those who were connoisseurs of the jokes being let out could be considered quiet. It really was a difference from the shouting, swearing, and all around blaspheming that had taken place at the breakfast a mere three hours earlier. But, thankfully, the easily excitable Rumiko had disappeared somewhere and was later found by Igadosu curled up on a bench in the main sect of the Church, sweating and murmuring to himself. What had caused this was between Rumiko, the Pentakami themselves, and his fellow assist, but rumors swept the second breakfast that the amazing Rumiko was getting cold feet. These rumors had, mostly, started and were spread by the gossiping duo, which had chosen this breakfast specifically to emerge, as Megumi knew Rumiko was an early riser and that Minato certainly was not.

Megumi was dressed, remarkably enough, in modern street clothes, a sight to see as she was more commonly seen in Ninlandish style clothing. She swore that she was trying to get a feel for the style again, since her dress was only slightly Ninlandish, but only because she liked the style. But it wasn't that odd, as most people, namely Ryoko, were procrastinating in getting ready for the ceremony and dressing the parts, at least until lunch, they swore. Megumi didn't mind. She herself was not looking forward to the early lunch to match the late breakfast and then being a doll for Minato for a very long time. Yurika, for some reason, had disappeared, but was reportedly found at the second breakfast, trying to hide something. Everyone had just figured that she had a little secret with a late wedding gift and didn't question it.

Megumi, of course, was bombarded with questions, suggestions, and offers from the How Mei Girls. Sayuri wanted to know if, since Megumi was honoring the tradition of not seeing Rumiko until the ceremony, she was going to follow the tradition of "something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue". Megumi told her she wasn't, but only because trying to match herself and was going to be wearing black and purple. Purple, she said, to just spite Rumiko, which caused giggles all around. Mikako suggested that she be careful when they got around to the cake. It was white of course, and she wasn't sure she knew how to get white frosting off of a black dress. Eri mentioned that a mixture of equal parts ginger ale and vinegar would get it off, or it would eat a hole in it, murmured Mikako indignantly. Harumi offered to do Megumi's hair, but Minato showed up and said that that was her duty as maiden assist, to get the bride ready. Junko asked if Igadosu also had to do Rumiko's hair, causing squeals of giggles before Eri asked Megumi an actually worth-asking question. "Miss Reinard, I hate you ask you this on your wedding day, but how are we supposed to become idol singers if everyone just remembers us as the Nadesico cooks?"

Megumi smiled. "Eri, look at me. Anti-Jumpers scorn me and say that I sleep with animals. They don't know me as Megumi Reinard, voice actress, anymore, now, do they? But do you know what my first gig was as a voice actress?" She smiled grew bigger as she relished in the irony. "The brown-haired school girl in Tentacle Love Goddess."

The girls were smart. Those that didn't shriek and ask if that really was her laughed, knowing that she became famous for voicing a girl that slept with monsters and was not famous for doing exactly that. "So we just use our fame to screw it up?"

"Pretty much." And that had to be the highlight of the second breakfast. Later, shouts of "Ya bitch!" and "Goodbye, you little fucker!" were heard from Hikaru and Jun's room, but no one had the stomach to venture in to figure out what the five hells was going on. Time passed quickly, with many not knowing the whereabouts of the two, or even four, stars of the day, but the male counterparts showed up for the lunch, at least. Rumiko looked to be very determined, proving every single rumor Megumi and Minato set off three hours prior. Megumi, on the other hand, had not shown, though Minato was seen stealing a few bread rolls away to the room Minato had Megumi held up in.

And after that meal, began the rush to get dressed. Ryoko, in a fit of idiocy, was cursed out by Hikaru, as somehow their robes had gotten mixed up and Ryoko had not noticed that she was wearing yellow when she should have been wearing dark green. She had claimed temporary insanity, but Hikaru would not take it. "You stretched out the bust, Ryoko! IT WAS PERFECT AND NOW MY BOOBS WILL HANG OUT BECAUSE IT IS STRETCHED!" Remarkably, fits of laughter were heard on the other side of the palace. Also, various reporters that had set up camp outside and inside, had taken this into account and made sure they had enough film and money to send the pictures for lots of money to Earth, thus ruining whoever's life that lived there and were obviously a little underdeveloped.

But, nevertheless, many got dressed, and with time to spare. One of these was Yurika, having her and Minato's room all to herself, had gotten dressed, made up, and her hair done in much less time than she had expected. Her hair had been curled and pulled into a very not obvious ponytail, her lips were done in red and her eyes had been circled with a bare tint of gray. She wore a diamond on a chain, if only to match her short gray dress, mostly covered by the silver cloak tied around her neck. She had been planning to spend her newfound time trying to make up with Akito after that last fight, but after walking by Hikaru and Jun's room, where all her housemates had holed themselves up, and heard very questionable things that she wasn't quite sure she wanted to hear, ("Tenkawa, tell me where you learned to be so good so I can FUCK YOU UP AND STILL GET SOMETHING OUT OF IT!!!" "Oh, you want to fuck me up, Junny? Sure, but I get top."

"ARG!" "If you'd just admit it, Junny…" "DAMN YOU ALL I DON'T FUCKING LIKE COCK!") she wasn't quite sure she wanted to interrupt… whatever the hell it was they were doing. She wasn't quite sure she wanted to know what.

~*~

There was a knock at the door. Minato's hands were far too busy for her to answer it, and some hairpin would have stabbed Megumi if she were to move at the moment, so she could not answer it either. Luckily, it was unlocked, but they were still wary. After all, various times in Minato's struggle to put up Megumi's hair did Rumiko knock and stick a head in when asked to come in. It was all very well possible that it was he again, so they weren't going to take any chances. Minato shouted, to be heard through the thick door, "Rumiko I swear to God if you're trying to come in again I will get a gun from somebody and shoot you in the head!"

The door opened and a head stuck through. Instead of it bearing Rumiko's dark hair, they were blue-violet tresses instead. "Um, is it okay if I come in, Minato?" Minato smiled at Yurika and nodded, letting the woman come in. She stepped in and quickly closed the door behind her. Minato was kneeling on the sea-green covered white bed, various pins in her hair and other things on the bed next to her. Megumi was dressed in her short little orange kimono, sitting in a white chair with her back to Minato. The former helmswoman was expertly setting up curls, pinning in flowers, and making sure that every single strand of hair would do exactly as she liked, not as it wanted. Yurika smiled and sat down on the edge of the bed, next to Minato's pile of hair goop bottles. Megumi had caught a glance of what she was wearing before the Martian woman had left her range of gaze. "I can't believe you, Yurika. I thought Hikaru was lying or something, but you're cheating, too?" Yurika looked at her dress. It was almost unbelievably short, coming to rest just halfway down her thighs when standing, and the neckline was remarkably low, the dress held onto her shoulders with little spaghetti straps. Her stomach area, on the dress, was sheer and a little sparkly, matching the gray dress to the silver cloak about her shoulders. She shrugged. "I don't like corsets. Never did. Besides, I liked how this dress matched the cloak, anyway. Nice, ass-covering thing it is." Minato laughed, as she had to agree. Not even she was dressed yet, still in her khakis and charcoal tank top from that morning. "I don't blame you, Yurika. If Rumiko set rules for me I'd tell him to shove them up his ass too."

"Besides, Megumi, you can't just yell at me. A lot of other people are cheating too. Akito's cheating, Itsuki's cheating, Izumi's cheating, Junny's cheating, I think Saburota's cheating…"

"Yukina's cheating, I know that for sure."

"Minato! How could you let her cheat?"

"Megumi, she said it would be really hot in that stuff. Considering just how hot it was here last time, I had to sympathize. I'm just glad that it's a little breezy today, at least."

"Oh, fine. But if Rumiko starts a ruckus, I won't be able to stop him."

"Oh, Meg, you should know how. You've been living with him, fucking him, and you're marrying him now."

"Just because I know how doesn't mean I will." Yurika had fallen silent and was now thinking and counting off her fingers. Yes, she lived with her. Yes, she fucked her. But she still didn't understand… She fell backwards on the bed, sighing. Minato felt the movement, but because she was wrapping another strand in a small curler, she didn't look. "What's the matter, Yurika?"

"Huh? Oh… nothing…"

"That's a lie. What's this about Erina?" Yurika sat up abruptly when she heard Megumi correctly assess the situation. "How did you…"

"You people, I swear. You forget that I'm psychic, huh? You know, lack of nanomachines, but still a connection to the Gods? They love me and possibly even want my sex. Damn Rumiko. So, speak up, Yurika."

"No way, Meg. This is your wedding day. We're just supposed to go ooh and ahh at how pretty everything is and try to get Mr. Prospector to stop the usual fake crying for detail. Not annoy others with stuff like this."

"Minato, please do me a favor and hit her." Minato reached behind her, but Yurika had already moved out of her reach. Megumi continued. "Yurika. Minato and I started a rumor today about Rumiko getting cold feet. We did that for our own amusement. I'm sitting here with nothing to do and I'm really getting sick of everyone kissing ass and shit. We could use a little entertainment right now, ne, Minato?"

"Yeah, there's only so much of your hair. Speaking of which, turn your head left, if you please." Megumi obliged and Minato began attacking the side of Megumi's head. Yurika took a deep breath. "Well, I'm sure you can understand what happened, ne? Things were as good as they could have been, considering, but then she started staying late, barely being home… then I found them. Kaguya's underwear in the living room."

"Ouch! But you have to admit, it did make a lot of sense, Yurika."

"Well I didn't think it would happen to me, you know! I've never been really truly cheated on… Nagare, I expected him to do, though he never did… I'm just a fool I guess."

"Okay, Yurika, start over. Why the hell did you decide to start a relationship with Erina anyway? Ow, Minato, that hurt."

"Well… I don't really know, actually. Since Nagare… died… I've been lonely, you know? I guess maybe I was a little vulnerable… and falling into the Izumi syndrome. You know, being so out of it where anything would be good at that point. But as good as it was… I don't think I'd go back, at this point. I had my little experiment, and I've sworn off women."

"Heh, you talk as if it's a drug."

"Sometimes I think it is! Doesn't help that everyone where I live now, save for Junny, as at least a little gay. Though even I'm starting to join the super-long joke…"

"What super-long joke?"

"How are things with them, anyway? Why did you go there?"

"Well… I went there mostly because Jun and Ryoko were there. Jun and I have always been friends, even if we weren't on good terms then, and Ryoko… I think she's becoming my best friend at this point. I just up and left after Ai told me that Erina was cheating on me with Kaguya-"

"Wait, Miss Fressange told you? She knew?"

"Of course she knew. Erina and her have some sort of connection. They don't even have to be speaking and they know what's going on in each other's lives. So I just went straight onto a shuttle and went to their house. It's really nice, actually. I have to sleep in Hikaru's room, though…"

"What super-long joke? This is all interesting but I'm dying here!"

"How is sleeping with her? She do anything crazy?"

"No, not really. She swears she can't sleep without music, but she wears headphones when she sleeps, so I don't have to hear it. Sometimes she has it up too loud and I hear it anyway though. She has a really odd taste in music… Anyway, then I made things up with Junny, and Akito and I have been at each others throats since."

"WILL YOU TELL ME THE JOKE ALREADY?!?"

"Magus, Meg, calm down. I'm getting to it. So, I suppose I guess I'm like one of them now… After all," she glared at the side of Megumi's head, "not many come get away with questioning Jun's sexuality in front of his face without getting burned to death." Megumi erupted in laughter, causing Minato to slap her head a couple of times to get her to stop moving. She wiped tears from her blue eyes. "Wow. I never thought it would be that bad. I'll never look at him the same way again." Yurika giggled. "Nope. You sure won't. It doesn't help that Akito's fucking ALWAYS hitting on him." More laughter.

"But doesn't his boyfriend get upset?"

"Nah. He's prone to doing it too, but not very often. Only when it really looks like Jun needs to scream at someone. Akito just does it all the time. Watch them at the party, ten bucks says he does it."

"I'm not taking that bet, but I'll keep an eye out."

"You won't need to, you'll hear Jun yelling. Trust me. So now that we've gone over what's happening in Yurika-land…"

"Wow, I'm going into shock. There's a whole theme park dedicated to you? I'd hate to see the bumper car ride."

"Oh Gods, Minato that was horrible!"

"Seriously! It would have been better if it was talking about a roller coaster with lots of interesting curves!" Silence met Yurika's comment. "What?"

"Yeah, you obviously have been living with those freaks."

"Well, duh. Now, Megumi, why is it that everyone here seems to have a stick up their ass?"

"I don't know. Maybe it's some kind of childhood conditioning. They have to spend their entire teenage years with a butt plug or something. I have no idea. At least Igadosu is normal enough to counter Rumiko's and Mythos's being asses."

"Mythos? The old Emperor?"

"Yeah. He's one of the advisors. Can't ever remember the others, but they suck anyway. He helps Rumiko and I with how things should be dealt with. Mostly me, since I do all of the public stuff. Rumiko just sits in his pretty chair with his little hat and looks pretty. He's marrying us, in fact. We were going to have Igadosu marry us, but since he made us aware that he is not in a position to do that, Rumiko made him his fellow assist. By the way, Minato, are you okay with this?"

"What, the maiden assist thing? How many times must I tell you that it's okay? Rehearsal went great, I don't have a problem with kissing Igadosu, and it's all good. Turn right, please."

"Wait, what? Why do you have to kiss Igadosu? I mean, he may be a nice guy and all, but he is kind of old…"

"It's part of the duties. We have to kiss to show that we agree with the couple that is being married. Since we're supposed to be the most important people to those getting married, our opinion is important, even more so than the others. You'll see later."

"Wow, later. It's kind of creepy. I'm getting married… later. Not in a few months, not in a couple weeks, not even tomorrow. Later. Before the day is done, I'll be known as Empress Megan Adagio. It's a bit scary."

"Cold feet again, Meg?"

"No… no. I'll go through with it. I really will. I'm more worried about Rumiko not going through with it. But… you have to admit it IS odd."

"What I think is odd is that you're the youngest of us, yet you're the first to get married."

"I suppose… no offense, Minato, but I always saw you, Yurika, being the first to tie the knot. I mean, after loosing Shiratori-san, Minato…"

"I understand. Calm down, Megumi. Straighten your head, almost done."

"Me? With who? Akito? Magus, we'd kill each other! And 'Tousan would probably never hear of it. He liked Jun enough, but Akito is completely different. Besides, I don't know if I would be able to fuck a guy with the knowledge in the back on my mind that he gets off on being fucked up the ass."

"Oh Gods. Did I need that visual, Yurika? I hope I don't see him during the ceremony. Seriously. I don't know what I'll do.

"I know I'll laugh, point, and give him a look that says 'I know something you know very well'. Did you know that I actually considered jumping the bandwagon and lusting after him too?"

"You what?!"

"Well, he seemed to have some sense, being absolutely terrified of you, Yurika, when we all first met him. But then he turned out to be a dork and Goat started hitting on me…"

"By the way, is that going to go anywhere, you think?"

"Most likely not. Okay, Megumi, you're done." Megumi stood and stretched her legs and back, then felt her hair. It was a pinned-up pile of curls and braids, with a few tendrils coming out that looked extremely sexy in that "just woke up" sort of way. She looked in her mirror and smiled, turning her head in each way. "Nice job, Minato. It looks great. You're going to put the lilies in after my dress is on, right?"

"Yeah."

Yurika got off the bed and stretched her own legs out. "Lilies? I thought you were strictly black and purple."

"Yeah, we got a small shipment of genetically altered purple lilies from Earth, just for the ceremony. I convinced Rumiko to let me have those, since I'm in black anyway. He agreed, reluctantly, of course."

"And speaking of your dress…" Yurika noticed that Megumi was fiddling with the light orange sash around her stomach. "Um, do you want me to go?"

"No, you can help. It's a big dress. Okay, Megumi… how do we start this?"

"All right, it's the actual dress first, but mostly the top. We need to make sure it's all right before worrying about the skirt. Then after that's the corset, since we wear them on the outside here."

"And you people were asking me why I cheated. At least I don't have to assemble what I'm wearing like a desk or shelving thing."

"Oh, just shut up and help me with this. No wrinkles allowed."

~*~

The First Pentakami Church in Carmina, run by Emperor Rumiko Adagio himself, was, in fact, just the old Head Temple of Magus, only with a lot of renovations. The front doors, still the large, heavy wooden ones it had been when they first came into contact with the huge building, had been adorned with a certain insignia on both doors. Light colored wire, almost white, had been set into the wooden in the shape of a five-pointed star. At each point was a small, yet distinguishable gem. From the top and clockwise, they corresponded to each God and their initiation order; emerald for Terra, sapphire for Aqua, topaz for Aer, ruby for Flamma, and diamond for Magus. Each of the points was also laid into a circle of a dark, almost black, wire, also set into the door. The symbol, obviously showing which religion this Church provided for, was almost three feet in diameter, but was not imposing, unlike the doors they were set into.

The inside had suffered the most change, if one would say it was suffering. Unlike before, which was cold, made to make others feel inferior, and caused other, less pleasant feelings in the hearts of man on purpose, it was no longer made of expensive metals and stone, but, rather, some of the most modern building tools anyone had seen on Ninlan yet. It was successfully wired for electricity and lit various lamps hanging from the high ceiling, proving that it was a large place, but only because there was so much space to be had in the air. The ceiling itself was a bit tiered, and almost looked like gold, but instead was just painted with a metallic yellow paint, so they could use money for other more important things, but still look very nice. The benches were made very nice wood, sanded and stained and promising to not leave any splinters. There were even green pillows on them so that people wouldn't have parts of their anatomy fall asleep. Even the altar, the candles and shelves behind it, the flooring, and the statues had been replaced. The altar was far too small before, and had been replaced with a black slab of some sort of stone, chiseled well so that it looked more like a desk than anything else. The candles in the back now ranged in colors, with a few on the floor because of lack of shelf space. The shelves were of the same black stone, matching the alter. The rugs that carpeted the areas where one could walk were a shade of blue that matched the sky outside. Even the uncarpeted areas were replaced with very nice, rich wood, matching the benches.

But the statues were another matter. Each one was sculpted from some unknown, almost glittering stone, each corresponding that God's color. Terra was in a green that rivaled forests at midnight, his arms crossed and wearing an almost angry expression that glared at nothing in particular. His statue was right next to the door. Magus's statue was on the other side of the doors, looking just as evil and calculating as he had when they saw him last. His hands clasped behind his back, he gazed over the throng of people on the benches, as if he had a purpose for each and every single one of them. Aqua's, oddly enough, was by a door to the southwest, just behind the candles shelves and the alter. He stood with his hands on his hips, still barely covered with her blue kimono that always flowed over his body. He frowned at those in front of him, as if damning stupidity and wishing them a fast and quick death. There were only two other doors, but they were north and east from the altar, respectively, and had their own carpets leading to them. Next to one, the north one, was the statue of Aer, her knowing, laughing grin reassuring those that the male Gods frowned at and damned with their artificial eyes. She laid one finger on her yellow cheek, and the other hand stayed by her side, tugging the bottom of her skirt. She even winked out to those that gazed at her, the perfect image for the one called the Trickster. At the other door stood Flamma, a shier, more seductive smile on her red face. She own arms were in front of her, her hands clasped in front of her red skirt. Even from a distance, her kind eyes were soft, even if her body was not.

All in all, the place was both welcoming and comfortable to those that had to follow Pentakami for fear of being murdered by their own God, those that were devout, and those who really didn't just give a damn and were there for Megumi and Rumiko, neither of which was around. Mythos was, on the other hand, standing behind the black altar with a very, very old book laid upon it.

People, to their dismay, had been assigned seats and were most likely sitting very, very far from those that they may have been talking to. Various forms of mouthing and crude hand signals flew around the two sections of the Church, including Yurika abusing her power to connect to the minds of the girls she was slowly becoming friends with, hearing their thoughts and generally communicating with telepathy.

Suddenly, a loud bell sound rang, and people sat at attention. Itsuki looked around, noticing a bit of silver in the air, but realized that another mage was near the altar, but more behind it than anything else. How they missed the large, dark man, was a mystery in itself, but his humongous hands were clasped in the common Ninlandish prayer position of both the middle and ring finger bent down and all the other still up and his eyes were shut. His darkened lips whispers slightly, and another bell was sound. A brightly glowing silver nanocontroller marred his dark brown hand, and it was very obvious that he was the first Music Mage many in the room had seen after Itsuki. They didn't have a chance to think too far on this, as the both side doors opened immediately and perfectly synchronized. It was obvious it was to begin.

At first, there was no one, then, at the exact same time, a person emerged from each door. Minato, dressed in a strapless black dress and her hair in a pile on top of her head, save for the two strands that, as always, came in front and framed her face, stood at the door east of the alter. A diamond choker attracted attention to her neck, but not enough attention where it was the only place you stared. At the other door stood Igadosu, his own hair as free as the wind the Goddess whose statue stood next to him played with for fun. He was dressed in strict robes, his arms hidden behind him in his silver cloak. The shirt was loose on him; the sash barely tied tight enough, but did not threaten to fall off. He stood erect, as did Minato, but he showed his age, while Minato showed her maturity. It did not make them seem old at all, not even Igadosu, as much as it gave them authority and power in the ceremony. Both of them took an abrupt step to the right, allowing their charges to come out of the rooms the doors hid.

Rumiko stood next to Igadosu dressed exactly the same, only with more of an air of power. Closer scrutiny would prove that, as emperor, his robes required a trim of gold embroidery, something that he did not like and possibly would never like. His own robes were less hanging on him, showing more that he was less relaxed that Igadosu, in more ways than one. His long black tresses had mostly been pulled up, softly folded into his little hat, the sight of which Igadosu had had trouble not laughing at. It was a small, round hat very similar to Yurika's captain hat, save for the face that the black and white zigzagged along the rim. It also bore the insignia that adorned the doors to the Church. His hair, however, proved far too long and thick to properly fold into said hat, and the ends threatened to emerge at any moment, but never did. He still wore his trademark black spectacles across his pale nose.

Megumi also emerged from next to Minato and put the poor girl to shame. Where Minato was plain, simple, yet screaming of authority, Megumi was elaborate, elegant, yet somehow innocent. Her hair was in a bundle of curls and braids, trails of hair coming out in places where it was absolutely perfect, but Minato's work on the purple tresses was mostly obscured by the violet lilies that ringed her head and held the black gauze that was her veil in place. Her top was black, and somehow also had the lilies sew into the trim at her neckline, which was low enough to show the little cleavage the girl had. It hung around her arms, rather than her shoulders, and puffed out and stopped at her elbows an short black ruffles. The rest of her arms were obscured by black opera gloves of the same fabric as the top of her dress, mostly obscured by the black corset that held up her breasts, tied in the back with dark violet ribbon. Her skirt erupted from the small waist the corset gave her, a stream of black that did not stop until it hit the floor.

With precision that could only have been rehearsed, both Rumiko and Megumi's left arms shot out straight, and they made their left arms a loop. Then, Minato and Igadosu looped their own left arm through their friends, taking the first step toward the altar with whomever they were leading. The walk was slow, almost teasing, but they did eventually make it to the altar. All arms fell to sides with exact precision, not a single expression formed on anyone's face. Minato took one step forward, as did Igadosu. They raised their arms and placed their hands palm to palm with the others. Their fingers slowly intertwined and another step forward was made. Together, eyes closed and lips met, softly, lightly, and without regrets or expression. They separated after a short moment, arms falling back to sides and legs taking steps backwards, returning to the sides of either the bride or the groom. Megumi and Rumiko now faced each other in this fashion. But rather than raising their arms high, they raised them high enough to reach about their chests. Their hands clasped and their arms fell back down, still clasped between them and they faced each other, waiting for Mythos to begin the speaking part.

Mythos glanced at Megumi's face, then Rumiko, then at the ratty old book in front of him. "So stands before you the faces, bodies, the persons Megan Rainerd of Earth and Emperor Rumiko Adagio of Ninlan, in wish that they join by law, the sight of the Gods, and the approval of those they care for. Haruka Minato of Earth, Megan's maiden assist, do you give your consent?"

"I give my consent." It was a short statement, but carried a lot. She stated it as calmly and sincerely as possible, without so much of a smile to make any light of it. This was a serious matter, after all.

"Igadosu Toccata of Ninlan, Rumiko's fellow assist, do you give your consent?"

"I give my consent."

"Then, by all means, Megan, please tell Rumiko and the Gods exactly why you feel this joining is to be?"

Megan's face did not falter, but instead stayed staring into that of her groom. Her darkly painted lips separated. "I have lived long and well with you, Rumiko. I feel this joining to be as one only recognized by those around us, to the Gods, and to others. In all senses of the words, we have already been joined by the hands of the Gods and I thank them. It would be an honor to stay by your side for as long as needed until death approaches us." Megumi them lifted their hands and bent her head to kiss them, sealing her words as the absolute truth. Mythos nodded, then looked at Rumiko. "Rumiko, please tell Megan and the Gods exactly why YOU fell this joining is to be?"

He swallowed hard, as if having a hard time trying to think of a good performance to follow that one. He began to speak, finally, however, proving that he could do it, or he would die trying. "Megan, you are the only woman I've ever known to know exactly how to deal with a person like me. I admit, I am not an easy individual. But I believe it when I say that dreams do come true and that you are it. You've done much for me and I only hope that my heart and soul is enough payment for all the debt I owe you for just being who you are. It too would be an honor to have you as my wife and stay by your side until death separates us, and even then I will fight for your hand to stay clasped in mine." He raised their hands and kissed them in the same fashion, causing a small smile to curve Megumi's dark lips.

Mythos nodded, a smile of his own forming. "Then, Megan, do you solemnly swear to love Rumiko in the way that you can and to honor your words spoken here, today?" Megumi stared Rumiko in the eyes, showing that she was not going to back down. "I swear upon my life's blood."

"And you, Rumiko, do you solemnly swear to love Megan in the way that you can and to honor your words spoken here, today?"

"I swear upon my life's blood." Mythos studied their determined faces, then reached into his own silver robes, pulling out two identical pendants. Their chains were silver, along with the backing, but both bared an onyx on the front. "Then with these you will be bound until sworn life's blood is spilt by one's own hand, the hand of another, or the hand of the Gods." He first placed one around Megumi's neck, careful to not get it caught on her veil. Next was Rumiko, knocking a few of his desperate strands of hair loose. The clasped pair of hands that faced the altar undid themselves, grasping the pendants around their necks and kissing them in acceptance. True smiles began forming around the altar, including that of Mythos. He looked out to the pews before him. "Brothers and sisters, you have witnessed the joining of two intertwined souls. See them and take the Gods' blessing, knowing that two fates have finally been met. Emperor Rumiko Adagio and Empress Megan Adagio, please seal the final ritual."

With that, Rumiko let go of Megumi's other hand, using both to lift Megumi's veil from her face. He lowered himself down and pressed his pale lips upon Megumi's black-painted ones. The bells of the Music Mage sang again, this time in joy and happiness and various people let out cheers and shouts, while many settled for clapping. Mythos slammed the book shut, the sound announcing the ceremony over.

~*~

TBC…

~*~

A/N: Woo! Megumi's married! Woo! That was actually rather fun. Go Trance! Anyway… Wow that was fun. Especially the ceremony. That was great. I loved that, man. Put that on my list of awesome scenes. Anyway… It'll be hard to follow that, but the story ain't fucking over yet! Next chapter, you ask? Well, here goes the after party! Yay! That ought to be fun. It also ought to share similarities to Peaceland Ball. ^^ Anyway, that was great. I'm all happy now. You should be happy too. Happy enough to tell me you're happy. Yes, that's right. Okay, I'm gonna go and be happy now. Bye bye! ^^ 


	20. Afterwards

A/N: Yeah, this is probably going to suck. Sorry for being so late, folks, but I started school and have been way to busy with that to worry about this and all. Though I've missed it. So, since I'm back in the stressful-state I was in when I started TDoNtD, I worked on it. Anyway… As I received no comments or questions on the last chapter, we'll go straight into recap. Last time, including a bonding moment with Yurika, Minato, and Megumi, was the wedding ceremony between Rumy and Meg. Sounds rather short, but as you all know, it was very detailed (it kind of scared me how detailed) so it wasn't and all. Anyway, this time around is half of the party afterwards. Why half? Well… some important things should happen here, but it is very similar to the Peaceland Ball, although certainly people will have some relationship friction. Okay, so now that we know what's going on, let's do it.

~*~

The party afterwards took place back at the palace, in the dining hall, no less. The long tables had been replaced with more efficient round ones. It was later explained that it had been planned to take place in the throne room, but since everyone's gifts had taken over the place, they had to relocate. At this, Yurika had disappeared for a total of about five minutes, but had come back to the dining hall in time to see Megumi and Rumiko shove cake in each other's faces, not to mention Eri and Mikako actually getting into a fist fight which had to be broken up by both Akito and Sayuri.

All in all, the beginnings of the celebration that followed the joining of the Nadesico's former Communications Officer and the one man that could be considered an honorary member of the crew went off exactly as expected.

Before anyone could eat any of the cake that the couple had soiled each other's faces with, they sat down to eat an early dinner. Through this, various people got up and walked over to Megumi and Rumiko's own little round table, congratulating them and giving Megumi various hugs. But it was almost when everyone had cleared their plates that Akito stood, holding his glass up, causing the bride to blush horribly and try to hide. That would certainly change later, but that was later.

Akito raised his glass and cleared his throat, kicking a few members of his own table in attempts to shut them up. But quiet did come, and Akito began quite possibly the worst given speech of his life. "Meg, I'll start with you. You were what really should be considered my first kiss, because I really don't think that one where I threw up as a child does not count. And then I started straddling the fence, whether that's any indication about your skills in the act or even the future, ne, Rumiko?" Squeals of laughter, and slowly Megumi's face was growing even more red, but for another reason. Rumiko just sighed and waved his hand, urging him to finish. "And Rumiko. Rumor has it you're horrible in bed. Is this you guys' attempts to prove that two negatives make a positive?" More laughter. "No, seriously, enough joking around. Meg, You really are a beautiful, kind, sweet person, and I'm sorry anything between us caused any real tension. Rumiko, you got yourself a really nice catch there. Don't let her get away, or I just might have to come back and shoot you. You guys… You're made for each other. I know it. So, a toast. To Meg and Rumiko, may they finally figure out how to do half the things they've already done, and may they get gray together and give us many reasons to come back to the planet that they both now have in the palm of their hands." The laughing turned to cheers of "here, here!" and lots of people drinking whatever was contained in their own cups. Rumiko waved two fingers in salute, thanking Akito, who bowed graciously, almost humorously. Megumi just nodded her head softly, feeling her fists clench and unclench. Rumiko looked over at his wife and set his mouth close to her ear. "Meg, he was just messing around. He didn't mean any of that. You should know that, you've known him longer than I."

"I know, just… that may have been the straw that broke the camel's back."

"Oh, Meg…" He wrapped his arms around her waist and dragged her chair closer to his. "You care far too much. You shouldn't, but I love you for it anyway." Megumi smiled a bit, but couldn't get the offended feelings out of her mind. She would have to take care of that.

~*~

After the toast proposed by the one who would appear in tabloids later that week with the woman he had just pissed off and her new husband, tables were quickly removed from the room and it was turned more in high density room it was meant to be. Megumi and Rumiko slowly and finally got to fade into the background as people began to focus less on them and more of the people many of them had not seen for a while. Or even those they saw everyday and seemed to never get enough of. The situations varied. But one certain couple that had not seen each other in a very long while had reacquainted the previous night, to the dismay of their room neighbors, and felt that they had to pay their dues. At least, that's what they would have been doing if Inez could get Rumiko to stop showing his respect for her with his forehead on the damn ground.

Inez rolled her eyes. "Rumiko, for the last time, you are Emperor, I should be doing what you are, not the other way around. I'm just thankful Megumi isn't here to witness this at the moment." Izumi was busying trying to pull her former teacher up from bowing just as low as when they met to Inez, calling her "Lady Ai". He allowed himself, finally, to be lifted by the younger woman, but still ignored her grip on his arm. "It is a complete honor for you to come to our simple affair, Lady Ai."

"Please. Hold your tongue, for all it's worth. I came to congratulate you two. But, as Meg's not here… Congratulations at officially tying the knot with our little Communications girl. Now, do you know where she is, or do we have to conduct a search?" Inez raised her eyebrows, indicating that she was done and waiting for an answer. Rumiko noticed Izumi then and shook her off, glancing at her attire. "So Hikaru wasn't lying, many of you did cheat." Izumi nodded. She wore a simple, strapless blue dress, with the midriff so sheer one could tell precisely how pale her stomach was. She had bought the dress a few years prior, but really did like it and resolved to wear it, rules be damned. Rumiko just sighed, then turned back to Inez. "I don't quite know. When I last saw her, she was still angry with Tenkawa-san for his distasteful toast, so she may either be killing him or complaining to Minato. I, for one, found it amusing, yet very heartfelt."

Inez nodded. "Megumi and Akito have had this unspoken tension going on for sometime now. It would be healthy for her to get rid of this before starting off on this new path you both have forged." Rumiko snorted. "New path. This just made it official for us. We have behaved in such a manner that is typical for a couple joined by law for a long time now. I don't think it would be any different."

"That's not true. She knows you're committed to her now, and that can scare many away, but also make others much more close. It all depends on how you become used to the idea, ne?" Izumi finally spoke, to the surprise of both Inez and Rumiko. Her lover, however, nodded. "She's right. I suggest you keep her words in mind. In any case, we have paid our dues. We shall see you later, Rumiko." Both women walked away then, to more private area of the room. Once there, Inez turned to Izumi, almost smirking. "Lovely words, Izumi. Speaking from the heart, were you?"

"Was it truly that obvious?" Izumi smiled softly. "After all, you did prove that I am more than just a fuck to you, ne?"

"But of course. We had this discussion last night."

"Really? I don't remember much talk, only a large amount of sex." Inez laughed. "Oh, Izumi. You are beyond something else." She held her right hand out, expectantly. Izumi nodded, letting her left hand fall into her lover's right. Luckily for them, both Itsuki and the unnamed Music Mage from the ceremony were hard at work, so they did not have to imagine very hard. Izumi's other hand placed itself onto Inez's shoulder and Inez reached into Izumi's cloak to place her own hand just below the sheer part of Izumi's dress. They seemed far too apart for both of their tastes, so they shifted once they began to move to the uncommon meeting of bells and violin. Izumi's arms around Inez's neck, realizing that actually was taller than the older woman as Inez wrapped her own arms around her waist, painted lips barely brushing her neck.

Izumi's smile did not falter. The ceremony had made her feel a bit young, a bit immature, but Inez always seemed to make her feel like she was much more important, much more older, more of everything she wished she was. Out of the corner of her visible eye, however, she could have sworn she saw both Kaguya and Erina. Her smile turned into an evil smirk and could not help remembering that she won over that woman. Her hands started brushing through Inez's hair, temporarily streaked with green for the event, and she began to wonder when the hell her luck turned around.

Not that she was going to jinx it purposely, of course. That would be horrible. Her arms tightened a bit and she pushed her body against Inez's, reveling in the other woman's movements. It was all too perfect. She had to whisper to her lover the disgusted, angry looks she was receiving from Erina. Those stopped immediately with kisses. 'Right. Who gives a shit about Erina?' And Izumi was right. It was about them right there. Not Megumi, not Rumiko, and not anything else. Just them and their fit, no matter how imperfect. They didn't even hear the shouting that was taking place not a few yards away from them.

~*~

"How could you do that to me, Akito? To ME?! Make a joke about what's supposed to be the happiest day of my life! How could you?" Looking at her, it was difficult to believe that the woman that stood there, turning red with anger and clenching her fists in their black gloves was the same woman that was so beautifully elegant in the ceremony not to far beforehand. But, if one considered the man that stood in front of her, glancing at his fingernails for debris out of annoyance and even perhaps boredom, one would not be able to blame her.

"Well, Megumi, I was just doing a nice thing. What I thought was a nice thing. I may have made a joke about it, but so what? I was being a nice person, a friend. If you can't take that…"

"Akito, you were not. Before you would never have said those kinds of things to me, about me, about who I loved. Hell, we might even have been the ones getting married today!"

"Whoa, back the truck up, Meg. You and I have completely different views of the world and that eventually would have come up and bitten us in the ass. You know this, I know this. You're more thinking about the future and stuff, but I live day-to-day. But I don't know what the hell has gotten into you, you used to be able to take a joke, Megumi."

"What you did back there was no joke, Akito. It was specifically meant to hurt me. Hurt Rumiko!"

"Rumiko was not hurt at all! He thought it was funny too, in fact! And it was a joke, Megumi, exactly that. I wasn't trying to hurt anyone's feelings, just to be funny, okay? Aqua! I'm sorry, all right? Shit!" Megumi turned away from him, crossing her arms in front of her so her hands touched her opposite shoulders. She glared away from him, becoming even more upset. "You've changed, Akito. Far too much. And I think it's because of them." There was no mistake at who "them" was supposed to be. It was common knowledge that Megumi did not particularly care for Akito's friends. Not even did she give a care about Jun, who she was once fairly good friends with.

Akito's jaw dropped. He made various attempts to speak while his fingers danced in the air, trying to point at something, most likely the actual point of what he was about to say, if he could figure out what that was. He eventually did however, and settled for one finger pointing at the newlywed. "You… So that's what this is about, is it? You're pissed at me because of the company I keep? What kind of fucked up logic is that, Megumi?"

"I never said that's why, I said that they changed you!" Megumi's hands slowly crawled across her neck, stopping at the hollow of her throat. She could feel it shudder as her breath did. Out of anger, or sadness? She didn't know, nor did she care at the time. Her voice dropped to a whisper, either way. "I've been trying, Akito. The Pentakami religion emphasizes on tolerance and acceptance of all different peoples. It may be considered the official one here, but only because it has such nice values. If people don't want to believe that way, we just cherish them as we are told to do so. I… I'm not all with the Church, believe it or not. But it fascinates me, and I've really been trying to adopt some of the morals, like the tolerance one. I was raised in a conservative household, and many of the things that… well, they're against what I believed in. So I grew to hate you, but I've been trying to not hate you so much, you know? But… you're not the Akito I thought I was in love with, you know? You're… someone else. Why, Akito?" She turned around and held her arms down, somewhat open, as if pleading for an answer. "Why have you become so much like them? Why couldn't you be the caring person who never wanted to harm a fly? How could you see everything as a big joke now, instead of what it really is? Why aren't you true to yourself anymore? What happened to you?!?" Her hands bunched into fists, waiting for him to say something to what she just asked.

Akito's own hands became fists as well, the one still up falling to his side. He shook his head. "Megumi, you're crazy. I may have changed a little bit, but I'm still me."

"Bullshit, Akito. You're all becoming alike and I know that has to do with that cock-sucking boyfriend of yours!" Megumi instantly covered her mouth with a gloved hand, appalled at her own language. Akito's mouth, on the other hand, opened and welcomed flying insects for the second time. But it lasted only a minute before he took a step forward and his hand was wrapped around Megumi's wrist, the air around them dropping in temperature abruptly and his own, normally friendly brown eyes were frozen stones in his skull.

"You bitch! I don't talk about your asshole husband of yours like that! What right do you have? WHAT RIGHT DO YOU HAVE?!?" He began to shake her arm, causing the woman to grimace and do the only thing she could think of to get him to stop. Her other hand connected with the other side of his face, harsh enough to push his head in the other direction. His hand fell and the temperature fluctuated a tiny bit, enough to be noticed. Megumi pursed her lips, definitely in the anger stage now. "Tenkawa, I suggest that you learn to get a little more control of yourself. If you cannot, I will have you ordered off the premises, if not off the planet entirely." With that, she stomped off, unable to take anymore of this foolishness she was taking part in with the man she was convinced she had loved once.

Akito, on the other hand, ran a couple fingers over the still-stinging flesh, glaring off into the distance before going in the opposite direction. Anything he felt for Megumi in the past was exactly that, the past. There was no way he could be friends with someone so self-centered as her, even on her wedding day. Nor as hypocritical. They were through.

~*~

But, as was common in any world or universe, as relationships were being celebrated or even broken beyond recognition, there was always one somewhere that was being forged, or modified into something even better. Luckily, it was happening in the same room between a certain man with an affixation for machines and a certain redhead woman with a thing for art. Or, at least, there WOULD have been something of that sort happening if they weren't exactly who they were.

"Okay, so two guys go into a bar and order the same drink. One guy chugs it and leaves, and the other guy sips it for the next half an hour or so. The guy still at the bar suddenly dies. Explain it."

"Hmmm… I have no idea. You got me there, Uri-P. Wait, did the other guy die, only he wasn't at the bar so they didn't know?"

"Nope, the other guy's fine." Hikaru bit her lip. They were dancing, but talking as they normally would talk, as they usually did in these types of things. Not that these types of things were usual, of course. They started telling riddles and jokes just moments before, just to keep the conversation lively. Hikaru had started with the typical stupid bar joke: A man walks into a bar and says ouch. Explain it. "All right, I officially give up. How did one guy die and the other live?"

"There was poison in the ice." Hikaru shrieked and cuffed Uribatake on the side of the head. "You asswipe! That's so stupid!"

"But you didn't get it!"

"Because I wasn't thinking the obvious! Aer! All right, I got a funny one."

"Funny-haha or funny-strange?"

"Funny-haha, now shut up! Okay. There's this guy and the pirate right? Well, the guy realizes that the pirate's got a steering wheel in his lap. He points it out to him, the pirate looks down and says…"

"'Arr, how on earth did tha' git thar?'"

"No, that's the easy way out. He says, 'Arr, I know, it's drivin' me nuts.'" Uribatake started laughing. "God, Hikaru, that was funny-retarded."

"Was not! At least not as stupid as your bar-joke!"

"Hey, my bar-joke was cool. You just suck."

"Do not! Was not!"

"Oh all right, fine. You win." Hikaru cuffed him again. "I don't just win! Aer you're so not competitive and man oh man is it annoying."

They danced in silence for a while, Uribatake sensing that maybe Hikaru was upset and Hikaru trying to figure out some things on her own. She finally did speak, however. "…Seiya." Her use of his individual name caught his attention. She barely ever did it, almost always calling him "Uri-P." "Hmm?"

"I never got to ask before. Why did you kiss me? Was it because it's what you were supposed to do?" Uribatake knit his eyebrows. There was something about her normally childish voice that suggested that she was nothing but serious at this time. It only ever happened when she was sad, or even really distressed about something. "Why do you ask?"

Hikaru chuckled, smiling in a way that couldn't be anything but cynical, the smile of one so easily pushing people away because of a broken heart. "It doesn't matter. Never mind."

Uribatake stopped and placed his hands at her bare elbows, narrowing his eyes. "No, it does. I can tell. This is bugging you. Why?" She narrowed her own eyes, almost glaring at him. "There's a reason I've pretty much sworn off men, Seiya. They always want something from me. Usually sex or something like that. You know how it goes, don't you? But of course, I'm one big hypocrite, and that is how I lost all those boyfriends. Hikaru the prude." She shook her arms out of his grip and stomped away, more angry at herself than him. But, of course, that eluded him and he felt something he did was wrong. Uribatake followed her to a chair on the side, where she sat, ran her hands into her curls, bunching her hands into fists. He sighed, sitting himself in the chair right next to it and rested a hand on her back, his fingers massaging through the combined thickness of the cloak and her shirt. She ripped her glasses off her face and covered her eyes with a hand, her face slowly turning red. "I'm so sorry, Uri-P. I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm so-"

"Shh, it's okay. Just calm down so you can tell me, okay? I can't do anything until you tell me." His hand moved from her back to her far shoulder, pulling her closer to him. She rested her head against his shoulder, but made no motion to hug him. It seemed odd to Uribatake, especially since, through experience, knew that Hikaru liked to be hugged. She eventually calmed, however, and sat up, patting at her face with an edge of her yellow cloak. She sighed, clearing her throat. "Okay, you want to know what's wrong, I'll tell you."

She rearranged her skirts, making herself a bit more comfortable. She then put her glasses back on her face. "I've always been the cute one. It really does surprise me how Ryoko, Izumi, and me never separated, but we each were… attractive in our own way. Izumi was beautiful and smart. Ryoko was… handsome and strong. And me? I was cute and creative. If there was ever someone into foursomes, we would be perfect, honestly. We covered the bases and all, you know? But we were all very different. Ryoko… never really was into guys. Honestly. Izumi dated around here and there, but was mostly serious with her relationships. I just followed my Grandma's advice about playing the field, you know? And believe it or not, I did get a lot of guys, which was really weird. I would have expected more going after Izumi and Ryoko, but maybe they were just harder to reach for than me or something. So yeah, they thought I was easy, just because they saw me with a whole bunch of different guys. But the thing was that Izumi was always hanging out with the girls and Ryoko just scared everyone. I had the guys fro my friends. So… the string began, you know? But it really did become apparent what each and every single one of them wanted. They really did believe me to be easy, easy as hell, in fact. I know sex ain't sacred. It really isn't. I'm a virgin and I can tell you that. But… I never wanted to do it with them. Sex ain't sacred, but not just any guy was gonna stick his penis in me, you know? Oh hell no. So I became Hikaru the prude. Hikaru the prude, the girl who knows sex is just sex, nothing special. That's why I'm a hypocrite."

Uribatake nodded slowly. He always knew this girl had had some very odd experiences with men, which is why she was considering giving them up now. "But… why did you…" He didn't really know a good way to ask. He didn't know much, really. Luckily, though, she caught was he was about to ask, waving a hand.

"I've told you before that you're one of my very best friends, you know. But… I don't want it to be ruined. I just don't want you to turn into any of them. Really. That's why… I wanted to know why you kissed me. Men can be so… well, you know, you are one. I just don't want to get involved in something that will cost me a friendship, that's all. I apologize if I… caused any distress." It was odd to hear something so professional from a girl like her, but there were so many facets of her Uribatake barely felt that he had come anywhere close to understanding the girl fully, even on the outside.

"Hey now," he said, light-heartedly. It hurt him to think that Hikaru thought that way about him. But he knew that it was just how she felt about men. He grasped her hands to get her attention. "You know how it goes, right? We were friends first, so we'll stick with that, all righty?"

Hikaru nodded, smiling slowly. She pounded a fist to her chest right at the seam of her pale yellow top. Uri-P, you're speakin' my language." Uribatake laughed, pulling both himself and Hikaru to their feet. "Of course I am, besides…" Once they had rearranged themselves and started dancing again, both of them shouted, "Sex can wait, masturbate!"

Hikaru giggled. "Man oh man, man after MY own heart!" Uribatake smiled and cuffed Hikaru over th head. "Stop being a dork."

"Oh my Goddess of Air, Uri-P, you're such an ass!"

But of course they were who they were, and it wasn't like them to be entirely serious, even if they were trying to.

~*~

Gai had been standing with Jun, talking about birth control pills caused gender crises in fish after Yurika mentioned that her anti-pregnancy treatment of choice was pills before going off to visit with Minato and Ruri. But their conversation was cut short just as Jun was suggesting that the high levels of estrogen would cause the fish to grow boobs, because Akito had shown back up, looking very pissed off indeed. Gai furrowed his eyebrows at his boyfriend. "What's the matter? What did she want to talk about?"

Akito just shook his head angrily, his jaw set as he patted his still red cheek, trying to cool down the heated flesh. Gai narrowed his eyes, assessing what had happened based on this small amount of evidence. "…Did she hit you?"

"Yes, the fucking bitch hit me. Only 'cause I grabbed her wrist and starting yelling at her, but she fucking deserved it." Jun's hand covered his mouth quickly, out of what the other two men didn't know, until it was down again. "Akito, isn't it bad luck on their marriage to bad-talk to bride or the groom on their wedding day?" Akito glared at Jun and pointed at himself. "Do I look like I give a fuck, Junny? Not only did she talk shit about you guys, and especially you, Gai, but she threatened to have me thrown off the fucking planet! I think I have a little leeway to talk shit about her, don't you think?!"

Jun's eyebrows shot up in shock. Akito had never spoken to him like that, ever. Akito was always either flirting with him or being kind to him. That was half the reason Jun considered him his best friend. But Jun only knew that it was his anger with Megumi that caused him to shout and be rude, not anger towards him. Nevertheless, he wasn't going to sit there and take it. Besides, the look on Gai's face said that they needed to talk in private. "Ooo-okay, I think I'll just go see what Yurika's up to and let you guys talk. Gai, try to calm him down before people start getting frostbite or something." Jun breathed out heavily to make his point, a small cloud of visible air forming. He started walking away and waved.

He got no wave back, as they had taken that exact moment to go over what happened a few moments prior with Akito and his first girlfriend. "Okay, so the bitch calls me over and bitches me out for my rather humorous, if I do say so myself, toast to both her and Rumiko, right? Then she starts this whole spiel about how I changed oh-so-freaking-much and that it's all y'all's fault and everything, you know? So I tell her that people change and then she started talking shit about you and basically pissing me off, so I grab her wrist and ask her what right she fucking has and she fucking slaps me and threatens to have me thrown off the fucking planet." Akito crossed his arms, screwing his face into a rather childish pout.

As was typical, Gai's fingers found themselves on Akito's cheek, only moments before defaced by Megumi's own gloved hands. Despite still being slightly red, it was already cool to the touch. It was obviously Akito's magic that did it, but it was just so characteristic for his Martian boyfriend to be always at least a little chilled, even during sex. He figured it might have had something do with the fact that Akito was not angry very often anymore, if you were to forget that he and Yurika had been at odds with each other. He was very calm in comparison to Gai. Gai was, in all actuality, explode when he was upset, and not hold it in. Personal inadequacies and sadness, yes, but anger was not able to stay in as it did for Akito. But once Gai got it out of his system, he was done; Akito let it boil until the cork finally popped off. Even as they spoke, Akito was storing all of his anger toward Megumi into the back of his mind for the next time he became extremely upset. But for Gai, it was just sparking, based mostly only the still red mark on the man he loved so very much's face.

His eyes narrowed, glaring not at Akito, but the space around his head, obviously deep in thought. It didn't take a genius to realize what he was thinking, but Akito wasn't sure until Gai spoke. "All right, my turn." Akito instantly grabbed the light orange cloak as Gai turned around, pulling him back. He glared at him. "Excuse me, what the fuck are you doing?"

"I'm going to go talk to her, do you have a problem with that?"

"Yes, I have a problem with that! You must think I'm a fucking girl or something!"

"…what?"

"You heard me! You must think me a girl if you just keep pulling this 'Akito's a damsel in distress' bullshit. I'm a man, Gai, and an adult; older than you, if you can ever remember that. I'm perfectly fucking capable of taking care of my own shit without you getting involved."

"If you don't want me involved, why do you always tell me about it?! I thought I was doing what you wanted!"

"I don't tell you to get you involved, Gai, I tell you so you know what's going on! To get it off my chest and all, you know. I would have thought you would have seen that I'm just showing that I fucking trust you, not that you know anything about that!"

"Akito, don't tell me we're on that shit again…"

"No, we're not on that fucking shit again. I'm talking about how you get all jealous and pissed off whenever I even talk to one of my exes. I know we already talked about this, but you aren't fucking laying off. Why can't you trust me?"

"I trust you Akito, you know that."

"How about showing it for once! I saw your face when Meg asked to speak with me in private, you got all upset like she just asked me to fuck her right then and there!"

"Well, how am I supposed to know, huh? I know, Martian pheromones, but how am I supposed to know that you are reciprocating? How can I really just trust that, huh?"

"That's exactly it! You can't fucking trust me, so I don't know how I'm supposed to trust you as I do! I just trust you and I can't fucking believe that you don't trust me just because! Yurika said that all relationships are based on trust, don't you remember?"

"But then she fucked the one man she didn't trust at all, whatsoever! Yurika was a fucking hypocrite, Akito, you know that!"

"Oh, it's nice to know that you're her, Gai! Fucking the man you can't fucking trust! I would have expected that from her or even anyone else, but not you, you asshole!" With that, Akito stomped off as Megumi had a few minutes prior, leaving his boyfriend pissed off and alone.

~*~

"So then you just left him there? That's pretty damn harsh, Megumi!"

"Personally, I just think you threw too big of a fit. I know that today was stressful, but you have relax, and that's what this part is all about, Meg."

"Oh, shut up, Rumiko!"

"Ah, they're a married couple already, how nice."

"As if you and Mari aren't already fighting with each other the same way."

"Damn you Saburota, I knew she was going to say that!"

"So, my Jupiterian acquaintance, when are you going to turn this actress into a proper lady?"

"Never, Your Excellency. It would take reincarnation thousands of years to turn her into a proper lady."

"Not to mention that he'd never be able to stop drooling over skirts. You're lucky he isn't slobbering over Meg here, Your Excellency."

"Why is he getting all the special titles, and not me? You forget that now I have some monarch power and all."

"You got a little carried away with it, Meg. 'I'll throw you off the planet'?"

"Well, I was pissed off! It sounded like a good idea at the time."

After Megumi and Akito had their own argument, she had come back to her husband and been confronted by her former co-star of Magical Princess Natural Laichi and her own boyfriend. Megumi was instantly impressed by how they knew, though Mari said she heard a lot of it and was spreading the word around. It was, she said, after all the most notable thing short of the marriage itself. Then Megumi cleared up all the details Mari wasn't sure of. And now it seemed that the conversation was hitting a lull. Suddenly, Mari broke the slow silence. "Dammit, Meg, I'm so jealous."

"Huh?"

"Of you. I'm jealous." Megumi cocked her head sideways at her, then looked at Rumiko, who was trying to fix his stupid little hat. "Rumy, honey, we need girl-time. Go annoy Igadosu or something, please." Rumiko glanced at Mari, then his wife, then threw his arms in the air. "Fine, I'll go argue a bit with Mythos, is that all right with you?" Megumi rolled her eyes at his antics and he left quietly, not making as much of a fuss as he should have, given his previous statement. Saburota just sighed and left, patting Mari on the shoulder as he passed. A moment of silence came and went before Megumi fisted her gloved hands on her hips, hidden by the folds of her extravagant black shirts. "So…?"

"Meg, you're two or three years younger than me, but you were the number one voice actress, first choice for the Nadesico's Communications Officer, and now you're already married. Wouldn't you think it would be a little saintly if I wasn't jealous of all of that? I have to fall into your footsteps, and I really would not like to do that."

Megumi put her hands on the shoulders of the woman that was slowly becoming a good friend. "Mari, I… Mari, I'm not end-all be-all, okay? I may be younger than you and all, but I took opportunities when I saw them. If I didn't, I'd probably still be living at my parents' house doing some parts in kids' plays or something. Instead, I took advantage of the exchange student program, I took advantage of my skill in drama, and I took advantage of Nergal's offer. That's the only difference between you and me."

Mari shook her head and clicked her tongue on the roof of her mouth. "Man, Meg, you should do have a thing for drama. I was just complaining that I would give anything to be where you are right now. Honestly."

Megumi laughed and her hand fell back to her sides. "Well, Mari, it's not as cracked up to be. The sex sucks, the crowd hates you, and the technology is at a record high for here, but an all-time low in terms of the solar system. It pretty much sucks, you know? Don't be jealous."

"I try not. I didn't even want to be a voice-actress, didn't you know? I wanted to be a movie actress… I just started out and got caught in the system."

"Oh, the system. Why did I ever leave? I miss the system. Would you consider switching places for a bit?"

"That would be so cool, but the hair and face gives it away, my little American. Not to mention that it wouldn't be 'Rumiko, oh Rumiko', it'd end up being Cory or Saburota or something."

"Hah, I knew you two would hook up. But Cory?"

"Guy that I lost my virginity to. Thought I loved him for a while… He was a Lunar Russian, really big guy. He decided that he wasn't into Asian chicks anymore. Good riddance, I said. He snored like you wouldn't EVEN believe."

"Funny how it's what planet or whatever you were born on and what your parents were nowadays. But trust me, there would be no unconscious screaming or moaning or even fucking gasping. I have to fake it all, myself."

"You're kidding me, is he really that bad?"

"You had best believe it."

"Wow, I'm starting to change my mind…"

"Oh, don't worry Mari, usually they do once I tell them I'm his… I almost said girlfriend." Megumi covered her mouth and giggled, a soft blush emerging on her cheeks. "I'm… Megan Adagio. EMPRESS Megan Adagio. That's… very creepy." Mari shrugged. "We went over this, I wouldn't know."

"But… it's just weird, I guess. One day I'll get used to it, I suppose."

~*~

Yukina was alone for the first time that night, after finally escaping Minato and with Ariko off to talk with his sister about something. Yukina didn't mind either way. She sure did like Ariko, but she also knew that Ariko and his sister were becoming close, so she really didn't care if he wanted to spend some time with her. She wanted to have a little space anyway. She was glad she wasn't Ariko, in fact, with all those brothers, because she always has little to have her space, even if she was outspoken, especially since it usually was just her brother and her, since her father was always busy before he died.

But her peace and space was soon interrupted, by a person some would say she didn't need to see, but some would also say she really did need to see. "Hello, Yukina." She looked up and was met by the face of her brother's best friend. There was no way he couldn't just be someone else. The long blue hair that rivaled Izumi's, the callused hands of a pilot, not to mention the Jupiterian nose and chin, the compound of both not even suggesting that he may have been born anywhere but in the Jovian Empire. She turned away sassily, setting her mouth in a firm line. "Hello, Genichiro."

He did not bother to sit down, as it was obvious that she did not want to see him at all. He just continued to stand, his head bent. "I… haven't spoken to you since it happened. Since… I murdered him."

"No, you haven't. And it's been peachy-keen without you annoying the hell out of me about it. So just say what you have to say already." Her words seemed harsh to any bystander, but Yukina often had a problem with her temper, with her anger, and keeping both in control. Having known her brother for most of their lives, he had known the girl since she was a baby and knew how she worked. She was angry, obviously, but she was also sad, didn't know how to deal with coming face to face with someone she believed she could trust, but had been betrayed so cruelly by taking away her last family member.

"I… assume Haruka-san told you." Yukina nodded. "And that started it's whole drama. You killed him because you were angry, weren't you? I know you wouldn't have done it if you weren't ordered to, but you can defy orders, can't you?"

"I… I don't think I can do that. I'm a soldier Yukina. You wouldn't understand."

"And don't you EVEN go down that road!" Yukina stood and faced him, jabbing a finger into his chest. "I may not be a soldier but you know what? It doesn't matter. He was your friend! Even if he did love Minato, you couldn't have forgotten that when that asshole told you to murder him!"

"Yukina, he was a traitor. If he had not died there, he would have been killed because he questioned the superiority of Jupiter. You know that. You may not have agreed with anything our government did, but you did know how it worked. I am not saying I did him justice by taking his life; in fact, I will forever live in disgrace and dishonor for it, but you must understand that he had betrayed our cause, he betrayed Jupiter, which was our home."

"Not anymore, Genichiro. I may have been born on Ganymede, but I have made my place on Earth. Earth is the only place for me now, and I will never go back to Jupiter, never. That is not my home. My home is with Minato. I know you hate her, or at least you did before, but maybe one day you'll see exactly what you did to us, both of us. You only lost a friend. I lost the only family I had, my only brother. Minato lost her true love. We lost him because of you. You didn't have to kill him; you did because you followed what you were supposed to do blindly. And both of you had been doing that since before I could remember. Oniichan made a choice, I made a choice, but you did too. You chose to throw away what you thought. I… I don't know what else to say to you. Minato may have been able to forgive you, but I am not a saint like her. I would not be sad if I never saw you again."

Genichiro nodded, turned around and leaving Yukina with one sentence: "Well, then, you won't see me again, if it will not make you sad."

~*~

"Hello, Minato. May I have this dance?" Those were the first words Goat spoke to Minato that day. Minato glanced up at the tall man, a little concerned about what he was asking. His face born no emotion, but she knew better. She knew he was actually a little worried she would say. After all, the two of them had not ended on good terms, but she commended him for making an effort. With a glance to where Yukina now sat, her arms crossed and her nose in the air, her painted lips turned up and she nodded, standing and taking Goat's arm. She didn't have to worry that Yukina would be upset, since she most likely would be off to find Ariko in a few moments anyway.

There were a few moments of silence before she decided to break it. "So… Goat, how have things been? Work and all, I mean."

"Not much different from the ship. Except for the fact that Nergal is clearly separated between Miss Won's sect and Miss Fressange's sect. I'm afraid that I cannot tell you anymore. It is classified, after all."

"That's understandable. I do work for a rival company and all. I can't even tell you that much about what I do other than I'm top secretary. But you knew that already, didn't you?"

"Yes." They fell back into silence again, and Minato bit the inside of her lip in worry. Goat had always been one to speak only if needed, but it was disconcerting for him to be so quiet like this, especially in a situation like this. They should have been as talkative as the pilots on any given day. So she came up with another thing to talk about. "It's really kind of strange to think of Megumi as married, don't you think?"

"It is. She was only seventeen when Viktor and I offered her the job."

"I know… it makes me wonder if she's just rushing things or if we are really taking our time. After all, I haven't had much time to look for a boyfriend or anything, with work, Yukina, and trying to get a hold of my brother…"

"I understand. You have your priorities in line and I respect that." Minato raised an eyebrow in confusion. For some reason it sounded as if he was all right with her not looking, or even coming back to him. Not that she would, anyway. She just sighed and continued talking, if only to fill up the gaping holes of silence. It was just becoming disturbing at this point.

"So… you've been hanging around with Mr. Prospector lately? Doesn't that get rather annoying at times, with all due respect?" He chuckled a small bit. "Yes, it does. On various accounts I've had to take away his calculator. He's ten times worse with it when he is drunk, which is very often these days, I've found."

"Oh? Why is that? Come on, Goat, you can tell me, even if I am the Gossip Goddess around here, especially with Megumi being the Queen of now."

"He's beating himself up over some girl. I don't know who it is and half the time I get him to talk about it he doesn't remember who it is either. It is quite frustrating, to say the least."

"Goat, I'm shocked, you allow yourself to become worried about the little things like that? I'm ashamed." She smiled to show that it was just a joke, but Goat merely sighed. Minato gave up. There was no way to keep him talking while staying polite. "Okay, Goat, what's up? Really. Something's obviously on your mind. I'm just assuming it has something to do with Meg and her newfound legal bond to Rumiko."

"So you've become sick of beating around the bush."

"You could say that."

"Minato, you just don't change. And that's what worries me."

"It shouldn't. I try not to dwell on sadness and gloom but still be as optimistic as I was before. It makes me feel much better, even when Yukina's not speaking to me for one reason or another." Silence again. Minato frowned. He still hadn't answered her question. She actually opened her mouth to ask him to answer when he did speak. "You're only twenty-five, right?"

"Yes, what about it? I know you're ten years older than me, but that certainly never kept Hikaru from being Seiya's friend."

"It just shocks me that you're so young. I could have sworn you were at least my age during the ceremony. I just suppose you looked very mature or something like that." He shook his head, a faint blush touching his cheeks. She couldn't keep her smile in, it was so amusing to see him embarrassed. She actually lifted a hand from his shoulder and pinched said cheek. "Goat, you're blushing! That's so funny." She shook her head, then her smile dissipated, and her hand rested on his cheek. "Goat… we just can't. It's done, it's over with, and I've moved on. It's time for you to do the same."

"I… AM trying."

"I know. It's all right. At least it's an effort. I can't ask for more than that."

~*~

Ruri had found herself part of a small crowd, though she was not show how or why. As was typical, her faithful minion Omoikane was near her, but for some reason the other two Electronic Fairies were as well. Mostly because Hari wanted to talk to her because he so obviously idolized her, and Lapis had just followed to have something to do, obviously. Her brother had shown up a bit later, and then his own best friend Yukina had joined them, complaining about the existence of Genichiro and how much exactly that she hated boy's anime. At that point, Ruri, seated at one of the small tables still upright on the side, propped her head up with her hand and frowned at this small crowd, mumbling words declaring their idiocy and wishing that she was actually cruel enough to plot deaths. At one point, however, she stood and straightened her knee-length white skirt. "Omoikane, I'm leaving." It sounded nonchalant to anyone that did not know Ruri; those that did knew that she was on the breaking point of screaming and threatening physical harm. She walked away, not even reaching a hand out to her robot to drag him away along with her. This puzzled his computer brain, which had assumed that she would almost always do that. But he supposed that the almost had finally taken place and made sure that he followed her, especially since it seemed like she had a direction she was going for.

"Ruri-sama, what's the matter?" Ruri stopped immediately, her white heels almost skidding to a stop as she turned around to face her best friend. "Omoikane, I… I'm sick of them. Honestly. I see you and Ariko all the time, and I know Yukina far too well, at this point. And I'm always with them, Hari-kun and Lapis. I… I've come to hate her, and he worships the very ground I walk on. At these events, they are always the only ones who ever spend a substantial amount of time with me, and frankly I'm getting a little sick of them." Ruri continued walking, which of course caused Omoikane to follow.

"Ruri-sama, what do you mean, sick of them? I thought you liked them." Ruri nodded her head quickly, then stopped again. "I do like them. But… I've never been one for people, you know that Omoikane."

"But you like everyone on the Nadesico well enough, ne? You call them all the time." Ruri's eyes flared. She often did that in her own private times, which meant that Omoikane must have been either invading her thoughts, or she was letting go of control on her thoughts, neither of which was good.

"Yes, I have grown fond of Ariko, Yukina, and all the others. However… I still am not comfortable in large groups of people. I never have been. That is why my best friend is a robot, a computer, of all things." She seemed to be talking to herself more than anyone else. "But… I know that everyone must interact with others, and I always read Yukina's letters, always talk to her on the phone, and I LIVE with Ariko. I need other contact now, Omoikane. Even… even away from you, if I must. If I am too develop when I am in most need of developing into a much stronger person, I need other people, and not just those that are all younger than me and around my age." Ruri left Omoikane standing there as she finally came up to the person she had chosen over the other two Electronic Fairies, her brother and his best friend, even her own best friend. "Tenkawa-san?"

Akito, obviously in a much better mood than he had been for the earlier parts of the night, turned around and smiled. "Oh, hi Ruri, what's up?" Ruri turned around to look Omoikane in his electric blue eyes. A small flash of white and the two's eyes were swimming in electrical sparks. She spoke to him over their invisible bond. 'Omoikane, they are too much like me, but so much unlike me. I cannot stand it. And whether you've noticed or not, I'm growing up. I'm not your "Ruri-sama" that you fell in love with, Omoikane. I'm Ruri. And you have to understand that I have changed and I will continue to change and that things are no longer the same. Do you understand?'

'Yes,' was the simple, lonely answer she received. He understood perfectly. He knew perfectly well everything that was going on, knew all of the statistical events that could take place for Ruri as a response. He knew everything: Ruri finally reaching puberty, albeit late; the tensions within their home about the Jumper debate and how it affected both Ruri, one that was a Jumper, and Ariko, whose best friend was a Jumper; the tensions literally outside their house about the same subject; the boredom and frustrations she felt from being treated like the child she wasn't, the idiot she wasn't, and the typical person she wasn't. All of it overwhelmed her, and him, as he felt it through their connection, and in her journal logs that he carried in a side compartment of his computer brain, which was slowly becoming more understanding and human-like everyday. But this, this was too much. 'Escape,' his thought processor said, and escape he did, running off best he could in the other direction.

But he never realized that that was exactly what Ruri was attempting to do. "Tenkawa-san, may I have the honor of dancing with you?" Akito looked about for a moment, as if looking to make sure someone was or wasn't in sight, then nodded, taking her hand. She smiled. Akito was always like a big brother to her, always nice to her no matter what. Just like Yurika and Minato. They always seemed to understand. Even if the one person she used to depend on couldn't. 'Used to? Will I… no longer be able to depend on him? Omoikane, can you hear me?'

There was no answer.

~*~

TBC…

~*~

A/N: Okay, considering that I haven't written in a while, that wasn't all that great. Again, I apologize for the delay in this chapter, but school has become somewhat overwhelming quickly. In any case, I did what was all required for me to do in this chapter, even if there wasn't anything special, other than being a bit longer than usual. So, next time, I'd keep my eyes out for many similarities to this one, except for the part when the plot begins to start to make itself important. So, I know you want to review now, so you'd best do so. Until next time…


	21. Afterwards Again Plus Plot

A/N: I am so freaking sorry that it has been so slow, but you know what? School really sucks. So do AP classes. And We the People. (Fifth Period! W00t w00t! Second in district!) But now it's almost time for finals, and two-year birthday of this monster. Now, responses. Yes, Megumi does suck, but the point was for Akito to suck, but I think they both equally sucked instead. That made little to no sense, but I don't really care. And to the other… I have warned you all that my style, especially when it comes to certain rather immature characters, requires for vulgar language. Nothing stopped you from that back button. This will not change now or any time soon. I have my reasons for what I do, and nothing's keeping you from going out. I never thought I would be persuading readers to leave, but honestly. I was expecting "Akito and Gai and everyone else in your stories that are gay are not OMG!11!!!!111one" before someone making a cheap shot at the language. But now I feel I've made my point. So, recap because you all need it (hell, I had to reread the last chapter to remember what happened in the first place), Megumi and Akito are pissed at each other, Akito and Gai are pissed at each other, Izumi and Inez are on very good terms again, Hikaru and Uribatake are just friends first, possibly dispelling any relationship between them, maybe, Mari is not quite as jealous of Meg anymore, Meg is kind of weirded out by thinking she's the Empress of Ninlan now, Yukina hates Genichiro's guts, Minato and Goat are not going to hook up, maybe, Ruri is sick of the people that are around her age, desires the attentions and companionship of those she cares for that are older than her, and Omoikane is having a bit of a problem accepting that she is growing up. Whew. That was a lot. Anyway, this chapter… the other half, w00t! Only… keep your eyes open for something. Trust me, when it finally comes up, you won't miss it. If you do, did you know that there is magic in this universe, because you may have missed that too. Anyway, let's hope this gets done and out without me going absolutely nuts.

~*~

It was strange, watching her fingers dance in the air. It was a familiar dance; one she had seen a great many times. Then again, despite her affinity and ability with various instruments, she always did favor her old violin, and Ryoko had seen her play it bordering on a million times. But what was so interesting about this time is that it certainly did try on her own magical powers, which she tried to not use when working with her beloved violin. Her violet brows together in concentration, her brown eyes hidden under her eyelids, she was obviously feeling the effects of ignoring her magical abilities for so long. But it was expected, especially since she was still playing even without a violin in the first place. She had had no idea that she would have been playing, but she couldn't help but to offer her services. And she knew she could do it, with a little concentration.

But concentration was the one thing that Ryoko was determined to never give her.

It wasn't as if Ryoko could help it. With Itsuki near the front of the room, poised to be leaning a bit to her right as she tilted her head to the left, her chin in the perfect position to hold her beloved instrument, had it been there, and her hands perfectly positioned to fondle the strings and the bow as they commonly did, she looked positively gorgeous and possibly even at peace with herself, had it not been for her knit eyebrows. And it didn't help that she appeared absolutely lust-worthy, at least in Ryoko's eyes, the silver dress she wore under her cloak hugging every single curve of her body, even the ones that Itsuki hated, and the light layer of sweat that was beginning to shine on Itsuki's forehead with her efforts. The silver that surrounded her hands matched her nanocontroller and dress in a way that contrasted well with her violet hair But it was the erratic movements of Itsuki's hands, holding on to absolutely nothing but air that left Ryoko's eyes a little bit hazy. But it didn't poison her mind enough to stop her.

"Itsuki, you know you're really, really hot right now, right?" Ryoko grinned evilly, waiting for it. Itsuki's eyebrows collided just a bit more, concentrating on creating unprovoked sound, somehow forming itself into a song that sounded a lot like it was originally composed by Bach, if one memorized such details. Itsuki's fingers on her right hand twiddled a bit, and it took a mere glance to realize that she had just barely flicked off her girlfriend. Ryoko grinned again. She LIKED this game.

"See, Itsuki, you'd have to stop playing for that to happen, so…" Itsuki's eyes opened for a bit, out of focus for only a moment before it turned into a glare at Ryoko's two-colored head. Somehow, the music because less like Itsuki's traditional violin and more electronic, as if the nanomachines themselves were beginning to take over all attempts to play and keep a good idea of what was going on around Itsuki at the same time. Her lips moved slightly, her words almost coming out as soft as she was now playing in her attempts to stop the electronic sound of her instrument-less music. "Would you just stop it? What would it take?"

"Oh, maybe for you to quit it and get over here." Itsuki lowered her eyelids a bit, examining Ryoko without compromising the now insane quality of her magical music. She finally gave a small nod, her voice coming back into play, just as soft as before, yet still audible, "Kiran. Switch." Ryoko's dark eyebrows took a moment to copy those of her lover's until the large dark man in silver; almost gray robes reappeared near where Itsuki stood still playing. With a few last, quick notes, Itsuki let her hands drop, and her intoxicating silver light finally dissipated, quickly met with many people in the room stopping and clapping. Itsuki smiled, took a small bow, and left the small circle, nodding once to the only other music mage present.

"Kiran?" asked Ryoko, raising an eyebrow after they finally unhitched. Itsuki nodded. "Yeah. Kiran Zapdusk, officially. He's an apprentice at the First Church here, and this is like, his first big thing. Works with bells and chimes though, so it's a little stranger than mine. Has to play things I've never heard of before. Like this." Itsuki pointing to the ceiling a tilted her head, not looking at anything in particular. It sounded almost like background music for some sort of game, but it was soft, almost inviting everyone to take a nap. Itsuki shrugged, grabbed Ryoko's hand, and pulled her away from where Kiran was assuming Itsuki's former position of concentration and oblivion to the world.

It was only once they were farther away from the sleep-inducing music that Itsuki allowed herself to shake her head. "Kid's got heart, but he'd be better used for offensive purposes I think, rather than entertainment, the way people are starting to snore."

"Oh, I see, a couple hours playing without a violin and you're suddenly an expert. That makes far too much sense to actually make sense, Itsuki." Ryoko fisted her hands on her hips, drawing Itsuki's attention a bit toward Ryoko's dress.

"And that made none whatsoever. Kind of like you in that dress." Itsuki grasped Ryoko's wrists and held her arms out so she could really see her. Ryoko was once of the few girls that hadn't cheated when it came to the dresses, and was wearing the typical full skirt, loosely-tied corset, and puffy-sleeved shirt. Itsuki shook her head and clicked her tongue. "No, Ryoko, I thought it would be adorable to see you in a real dress, but now I realize that it is just not working for you. But the whole aqua-green and black hair thing doesn't help it much."

"Itsuki, stop being so typical, okay? Give me nightmares of you with a lisp and pink hair or something."

"Please, I'm not that femme. I may be the stereotypical 'girl' in this outfit, but I guarantee you that I will never become someone's makeup artist or whatever." Itsuki let go of Ryoko's arms, letting them fall back to her sides before her own arms encircled Ryoko's waist, a slightly predatory smile marring her face. Ryoko sighed and shook her head; an action quickly ceased by Itsuki locking their lips together, Ryoko meeting her with equal ferocity as she threaded her fingers into Itsuki's loose tresses. After a few moments, they separated for breath; Ryoko reopening her eyes a small bit and breathing a bit heavier than normal. Out of reflex, she looked around her to see that no one at all was looking. Itsuki didn't notice this, pressing her forehead against Ryoko's. "Magus, Ryoko, I love you."

Ryoko had only heard Itsuki say it to her before once or twice. Itsuki barely ever said it. Ryoko knew that her lover felt it, really truly was in love with her, but for some reason, it never took on so much than it did at that exact moment. Ryoko smiled softly, making her actually look a bit more feminine than she normally did. "I love you too, Itsuki."

It was really the first time she had said it.

~*~

Soon after Akito finished dancing with Ruri to make her happy, which ended about the same time Itsuki finished playing and was replaced with the only other music mage in the room, He found that he was quickly propositioned by yet another important woman of the Nadesico, only he didn't expect her to speak with him, let alone ask him to dance.

Nevertheless, without even asking, Yurika grabbed his hand, placed it on her hip, and grabbed the other as she laid her own other hand on his shoulder. Before Akito could ask her what the hell she was doing, though, their eyes met, and Akito could see the intensity only matched by those of her patron god reflecting in her aqua depths. He sighed, but then nodded before they did begin to dance. "Okay, so we need to talk. What do you want?"

"Hostilities, Akito. You should keep them in check, since we are kind of in public." Akito snorted. "You call this public? Fine, I'll shut up."

"No, Akito, you're right. We need to talk. All this… this arguing, we need to quit it, you know? I mean, it's really getting stupid. It's not like… Well, it's not like we can't be friends, right?"

"Really, because that's exactly what I was set on. Never speaking or seeing you again. Yurika, I don't like you. I really don't. In fact, I don't even know why I bothered to help you stay at Gai's, or why I put up with this crap from you, let alone why I dated you in the first place."

"Magus, this is just like you Akito, so freaking focused on that, on you. Everything's about you, isn't it?"

"Well, you ARE asking about me, Yurika, so I would have to assume–"

"Selfish, childish, everything all wrapped up in one huge package, that's what you are, Akito." Yurika dropped her arms and pulling Akito away from her. She tried to turn and leave him there, but Akito grabbed her cloak instead, his head beginning to hurt from everyone that just wanted to start fights that day.

"Yurika, you wanted to talk, and we're going to talk. You're not running this time. You can't… you can't run away forever." Akito was surprised to find the words of his first Earthling friend and employer emerging from his voice. Yurika glared at him for a moment, but then realized that Akito was right, that they needed to get over this as calmly as possible.

"All right. Fine. First of all…"

"First of all, Yurika, you're a hypocrite."

"What!?"

"In the definitive sense of the word, you are. Think about it. You're telling me that I'm selfish and acting like a kid and all that, but I don't think you've looked at yourself lately, have you? And you pulling this whole 'relationships are based on trust' bullshit when here you were fucking a guy you couldn't have trusted any further than you could have thrown, and then a chick in the same situation!"

"You had no idea what I went through, Akito! I loved Nagare!"

"But you couldn't trust him." Yurika turned away and crossed her arms sadly. "No. I loved him, but couldn't trust him. I wanted… I wanted to find some of him in Erina, but I couldn't trust her either. You're right, Akito. Are you happy now?" She glared at him, then began to speak again. "You should be, because I may run away, and I may act like I kid, but I know when it matters to not act like I'm two."

"I find THAT impossible to believe."

"Well, believe it. And I'm not selfish either, not as selfish as you."

"Oh, and here YOU are starting shit with me when Meg and Rumiko get married. Nice example there." Yurika shook her head and pointed to where Jun stood with Hikaru and Uribatake, laughing softly and smiling a bit. Not a real smile, but one that was more for everyone else. Akito felt something sigh inside him, almost as if it was him himself. There were no words needed to be said; Jun had been off his game in the game called life for a while. He looked back at his old friend, feeling a bit calmer. "Junny?"

Yurika nodded. She smiled softly and watched him talk to Uribatake. "He's… he's been so out of it lately. I don't know why. He told me that it's almost as if he knows something bad is going to happen. But bad stuff has been happening, even though things are fairly good for him at the moment. But… My staying at Yamada-san's home, even though we're friends again, has got him feeling fairly bad."

"Because he loves you, Yurika. Why can't you get that through your thick head?"

"I know he does. And… I'm sure seeing all of this with Meg and all and then us fighting all the time isn't helping." Yurika looked at the floor. For just a moment, Akito was sure he could feel someone's fingers in his head, feeling a bit like when one's foot falls asleep. Suddenly he could hear Yurika's voice echoing on the inside, sounded a bit muffled, like his own voice. "I just want him to be happy, Akito. We're his best friends and the fact that we always fight is so… messed up." Akito could see that her fingers on her right hand were twitching a bit and some slight traced of silver light in the air between them. Akito could feel that she really wasn't trying to do it for them, that she didn't hate him, but was just very disappointed. He narrowed his eyebrows. 'She doesn't hate my guts. She just doesn't want to fight and doesn't like me as a person.'

"I never said that!" She actually said these, their magical connection severed. Yurika rubbed her arms, which were now covered in goose bumps. "I do like you as a person, Akito, that's why I just want to be friends! I was mistaken when I thought I was in love with you. It's just that… I would really like some effort back, okay? I'm trying to be nice. If only for Junny. But it would be great if we could be friends again, right?"

It made so much sense. Possibly even too much of it. Akito wasn't interested at all in being Yurika's friend. But remembering Jun and his starting small fires in his room, and also remembering at least some of the good times while on Mars with Yurika… well, she put up a good argument. Akito finally sighed and held out his hand, the light blue markings glowing faintly, not brightly as they had when he was angry with Megumi. "All right. Truce?"

Yurika smiled and quickly grabbed his hand, shaking it firmly. "Hello, my name is Misumaru Yurika." Akito rolled his eyes. "Haven't we tried something like that before?"

"Déjà vu is the best weapon in the world."

~*~

Izumi and Inez's interesting talk about precisely how the Pentakami Gods could be logically explained, conclusion turning into the fact they might just be bungled groups of Retrospect or even Boson particles, capable of influencing nanomachines as those particles can, rather than being actual supernatural creatures, was interrupted by the appearance of one yellow-clad redhead. Hikaru's sudden presence, only beaten by Boson Jumping itself, startled Inez, but Izumi barely blinked, merely turning her head to where Hikaru now knelt at their table, crossing her arms and laying them on the surface and then her hand on her arms. "What is it?"

"Bleh, Akito is causing shit and I'm tired of listening to it all over the place. First I hear Meg whining to Rumiko, then I hear Gai whining to Jun, and I just heard from Uri-P, who heard from Ruri, that he was causing shit with Yurika! Ugh! I'm just… I'm sick of the drama, Izumi." Hikaru whined a bit and frowned, looking positively annoyed. Izumi smiled and petted Hikaru's hair softly. Inez noted this act of affection and made motions to stand and leave, but a quick look from her blue-haired lover and a shaken head caused her to relax back into her seat.

"It's all right."

"No, it's not, Izumi. History's repeating itself. Remember when we were on the ship, before the war was over, and he was with Gai? Complete prick. Now here he goes again."

"No, Hikaru, he only did it before because he was scared. Now, he, like many others, is jealous of Meg and Rumiko. He lives for mundanity, only now he wants just a little more. Getting angry… that's just how he blocks out what's really wrong. I suppose he learned it after his last freak-out, when he was afraid again. I suppose it's an Aqua thing, isn't it, Inez?"

Inez took a moment to realize that Izumi was addressing her, and nodded slowly. "However, if you go on what we were just speaking about, it is rather impossible."

"No. One thing I've realized about Boson particles is that they remember certain things, possibly even people." Hikaru's eyebrows knit together for a moment, but then she quickly nodded. "Yeah, see, the shuttle really did reek of Rumiko, you know." Izumi slapped a hand on her forehead, but said nothing. Inez chuckled a bit. "So are you saying that that is how your idea works? Boson particles work in the same way as signatures?"

"You betcha, Miss Fressange! Or, I guess signatures are because of Boson particles or something like that… Hey, I'm just the cute one, not the smart one. Shut up Hikaru!" Hikaru slapped herself softly, eliciting some rolled eyes from her best friend. Inez nodded, noting this as she laid a finger upon her cheek. "I find this amusing, considering…" She nodded a bit, looking behind Hikaru. Izumi looked up and grinned manically, almost as a reflex in seeing someone she wasn't very close to. She laid her hand on Hikaru's head again. "Mine!" she cried, then erupted in giggles, to the sudden concern of the redhead and to the annoyance of her lover. Inez just sighed and shook her head, though. "Hello, Viktor. Are you having a good time?"

Viktor smiled and nodded in regards to Inez's presence. "Yes, I do believe I am, Inez, considering it all. It was certainly a beautiful wedding." Inez's lips pulled themselves into an amused smile. "And you played the part of the bawling mother beautifully."

"What can I say, it's my true tribute to the company. Everyone should have someone to cry over an event in their lives."

"Well, I wouldn't say it's your only tribute –"

"VIKTOR!" Inez was promptly interrupted by Hikaru jumping to her feet, spinning about and wrapping her arms around the man called Prospector's neck. "Man on man, I haven't seen you in ages! How've you been? What's new with ya?"

"Hikaru." Viktor raised a hand and waved it to silence the blue-haired pilot. "It's quite all right, Maki-san. I would expect nothing less from Hikaru here. Especially since we are somewhat friends." Hikaru turned her head to see Izumi and she stuck her tongue out. Izumi only raised an eyebrow in what almost seemed to be the manner of Inez, but left it be. Viktor finally pried Hikaru's arms from his neck, holding her hands down near her sides. "Now, now, Hikaru. We don't need Uribatake-san getting jealous or anything, now, do we?" He smiled at this statement, but Hikaru just wrinkled her nose. "Please, like he has anything to be jealous about."

"Well, then I suppose my asking you to dance wouldn't be too out of the question, now, would it?"

Inez immediately chuckled. "Viktor, you dog." Izumi gave her a look that silenced her, but didn't wipe the smirk off her face. 'So Hikaru needs something like this, but when it's a co-worker of mine, I simply cannot resist.'

Hikaru studied Viktor's expression, to his dismay. He was soon about ready to burst into either laughter or tears with exactly how embarrassed he was feeling at the moment. But then she suddenly sighed. "Viktor, I'm sorry, but… I'm kinda tired, you know? That's why I came over here, so I could rest. I'm really sorry to turn you down like this –"

"Oh, no, that's perfectly all right," he rushed out, feeling relieved. Not sad, not dejected, but completely relieved. "I understand completely. It was forward of me to ask. May I speak to you later without, well, an audience?"

Hikaru giggled a bit. "Maybe. Later, Viktor." He nodded and left, his grip on her wrists suddenly missing. She followed him with her gaze for a bit until Izumi's voice interrupted her thoughts. "I still don't understand why men believe your horrible lies."

"What?" Inez laughed under her breath. "I suppose this isn't the first time she's done something like this."

"Certainly not." Hikaru fisted her hands on her hips. "Hey now, quit making fun of me!" Izumi barely blinked before she caught Hikaru's eyes with her own crimson. "I'm not making fun of you. I think you need to quit it. You swear that you want companionship, but you can't certainly expect to be believed if you keep pushing them away. Uribatake-san knows you're a compulsive liar. How long do you think it's going to take before Mr. Bros figures it out as well? How can you expect them to believe anything you say?"

Hikaru glared at her best friend. "Izumi, I think that's the cruelest thing you've ever said to me."

"But it is true." Hikaru widened her eyes as she quickly switched her gaze from her best friend to Inez. "You have to let them know how you really feel if you want them to have any interest in you at all. That's just how relationships, true, lasting ones, work, Hikaru."

Hikaru sighed and looked at her yellow shoes. She knew she had a problem. But she had no idea how to fix it. "I know. I wish I could tell them that I'm sorry."

"Start today." Hikaru nodded quickly. "Yeah… Yeah, I think I will. I'll go apologize to Uri-P right now. Thanks, Izumi, Miss Fressange."

"Please, Inez." Hikaru smiled and nodded, making motions to leave. "Yeah, okay. I love the streaks, Inez!" She then ran off with an energy that completely refuted her excuse to Viktor.

Inez shook her head. Izumi frowned. "She won't do it." Inez's eyebrows furrowed. "What?"

"She'll try, but then she'll realize that real lies are seen as bad through real eyes, and just give up and feel bad about it." Inez half-lidded her eyes, examining the pale, blue-clad woman in front of her. "You confuse me sometimes."

Izumi smiled. "That's my tribute to the world."

~*~

"So things didn't quite go as planned?"

"Quite the contrary. Everything actually went quite well."

"Hmph. I remember you saying something very similar when Tenkawa was still trying to figure out how to use an Aestivalis, Viktor." Viktor laughed, shaking his head. "But it was going well then, and is now. My only purpose behind that was to rule Hikaru-san out as the person I seem to be developing feelings for."

"So you planned on getting rejected. Why does that seem so very strange, Viktor?" Viktor smiled at his friend. "Because the probability of my getting turned down was up twelve more percent higher than normal, with the separation between me and Amano-san and the bridge she has been forming Uribatake-san."

"Minato's right, you are just as bad as Megumi."

"Oh, so you talked to her?"

"No, she's said it before."

"But I thought I saw you dancing with her earlier."

"…We're not going there, Viktor."

"Fine, fine, whatever you say. She is a rival now, anyway."

"You know that never matters to me, Viktor."

"No, of course not, Goat."

~*~

A violet-haired Martian. A black-haired Earthling. The CEO of Asuka Industry Limited. The CEO of Nergal Heavy Industries. A captain. A helmswoman. A Jumper. A human. Needless the say, Inez had thought it extremely strange once they reached L2 after their little adventure on Ninlan. Kaguya and Erina seemed to make one of the oddest couples Inez had ever seen, not that she had seen all that many to begin with, of course. 'But, I suppose I have no room to talk. I'm sure no one expected to see me sleeping with Maki Izumi when I first joined the crew.' But there was always something amiss when it came to those two. Inez was hard put to just brush it away as believing it was old feelings for Erina surfacing again. She may have told Izumi that she was in love with her, but she would always, always feel something for Erina.

But Inez knew that's not what it was. Anyone who had been present during all of the drama that seemed to envelope Erina, head of Nergal itself; Inez, head of the Science department; Kaguya, former captain of the Gardenia, head of Asuka, and Boson Jump Test Subject; and most strangely enough, Yurika, former captain of the Nadesico and Boson Jump Test Subject. It had begun to get so bad that Inez had gotten Hari to also become a Jump Subject, just so that she could be sure that tension between Yurika and Kaguya wouldn't affect the experiment. But the strangest thing of all was how Erina had dropped Yurika, a woman she had been obsessed about since the idea of the Nadesico came to light, for Kaguya again, someone Inez was sure was just being used for Business gain.

'Humans are in fact strange creatures,' thought Inez as she sipped her drink. There was a reason she never understood them, and it seemed that it was that their social bonds were so complex that to call them a simple web would be foolish. All of the logic in the world couldn't dare explain it. That was why Inez preferred to stay unattached to people, so that she could possibly understand it a little better from viewing the outside of this tangled mass. But she was beginning to find that it was easiest to understand when you found yourself tangled within it as well.

Inez was certainly no expert, but it didn't take a genius and master of the social threads to understand that something was most definitely wrong in regards to Erina and Kaguya.

Inez nodded to herself. She would just have to ask Yurika eventually on things that had happened prior to their breakup. She could have just been jumping to conclusions.

~*~

"…And that is why most people around my age tend to be, pardon the language, but slackers. Because they are far too set on a mindset that prefers pleasure over knowledge." Yurika nodded slowly. It all made some sort of strange sense. But it was certainly odd to hear such mind-bending understanding on the subject of people Ruri's age, despite the fact that it was coming from exactly her.

"And of course some people never grow out of that…"

"Precisely. Thus, the deterioration of the system's work ethic."

"But what about pleasure as a reward for gaining knowledge? Wouldn't that change it back in favor of knowledge?"

"Because once you are older, you have the means of getting pleasure on your own, without someone to hold it in front of you as a prompt. It defeats the purpose." Yurika nodded again, looking off into the distance at absolutely nothing as she pondered this. That is specifically why she didn't notice that Ruri was looking past Yurika's body to see someone, at least until Ruri said something. "Aoi-san. Hello."

Yurika's gaze flipped to Ruri's pale face, then behind her to where Jun bit his lip and fidgeted, wringing his hands at the wrists. Yurika felt her mouth grow into a smile, then she turned back to Ruri. "Ruri-chan, Junny and I are going to have a few moments, okay?" She stepped back to Ruri and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, giving her an awkward hug as she kissed the top of Ruri's head. "We'll continue our talk later, okay?"

Ruri heard the happiness in her former captain's voice, and could barely control herself from catching the infectious smile. She nodded instead, biting the insides of her mouth to hold them in place. "Yes. That is all right." She nodded her head a bit to Jun, who was suddenly being dragged away by the woman he used to be engaged to.

As she watched them suddenly have to assemble their limbs, to the confusion of Jun of course, Ruri tilted her head in thought. There was so much she thought she was sure of when the war did end. So much that she thought would never changed. But looking at how the world turned out instead seemed to prove that idiotic assumption false. Ruri couldn't sometimes believe that she was living with her biological parents, that Yurika and Akito were not anywhere near dating, or that there was as much political uproar revolving around the existence of nanomachines in some people's blood, let alone that magic was real or that everyone with nanomachines in their blood could suddenly Boson Jump.

'Things have changed so much. In three years, relationships have changed drastically, science has been rewritten and we've even discovered an old planet. Three years, a lot of which had been spent in Limbo, Jumping from somewhere to somewhere else. How… sad.'

It took Jun merely seconds before he actually formulated his thoughts into words. "Yu… Yurika, how did –"

"Shh. Just don't talk, okay? You might ruin it." She smiled softly and wrapped her arms around his neck, leaning her head against his as she pushed her body against his. It wasn't sexual, strangely enough, but more in a need to be close to each other.

Somehow, being this close to her, inhaling her scent of a mix of lilies and mint, feeling some kind of prickling in the back of his head, knowing that this was all her doing suddenly reminded Jun suddenly of their prom night in their last year in high school. It was strange, because this was nothing like then. Jun had only gone because it had been drilled into his head that it was a very important moment in his young life. Frankly, he hadn't cared, really. He didn't have a girlfriend, and he was sure that barely anyone knew who he was, and had planned on spending the evening sitting on the edges of the room.

Of course, though, being precisely who he was, he had found his gaze following the girl that had grown into a lovely young woman in the four years he had done nothing but follow with his gaze. She had arrived at their high school when they all did as well, but they had all known each other since elementary school, and she was new. It was rumored that she had been home-schooled and in therapy since she had come to Earth when she was ten, but no one was sure. With her beauty, charm, and seemingly uncharacteristic intelligence, she had quickly become popular and a fairly common name to hear among every group of friends there.

But there also flew the rumors that she was a prude. She had had a few boyfriends throughout their attendance of high school, but she had never actually kissed any of them. So it had been strange seeing her in what seemed like an absolutely ridiculous dress, short, red, and covered in sequins, nylons darkening her legs and her hair swinging loose from where she danced with an ex-boyfriend of hers.

He had felt so wrong watching her, wishing that he was that young man, that he could ever be in a league to win a woman like that, someone that was obviously so above him. Who would have thought that they would have eventually become engaged, despite the fact that they broke apart once coming onto the Nadesico?

Jun should have hated the ship. No, he should've hated Akito. But he couldn't bring himself to. It was the ship that allowed them to at least stay friends, and it wasn't as if Akito wanted Yurika in the first place. It was just a fluke, deus ex machina, if you will. Just some sorts of events that led to how the world was now. Yurika may not have even been there, humming softly with her arms around his neck if it had not been for certain events.

And it was this thought that pulled Jun out of what could almost be considered a lapse in conscious, realizing that his hands were clasped only loosely just above the curve of Yurika's buttocks inside her cloak, that the soft, warm flesh of Yurika's arms brushed against his cheek slightly, that he could feel every curve of her body in a way that almost a bit scary. No, it was the fact that he was so quickly swept up into his thoughts that was scary.

In one fluid motion, he pushed Yurika away from him so that he could see her face. His contorted quickly with confusion as words seemed to take on a life of their own. "Yurika, what are you doing? What is this?"

Her red lips turned up softly in a kind smile that threatened to melt him. Flamma, he loved her so much. No, this was wrong. Her right hand, the one adorned with her silver markings brushed his cheek, her thumb coming up to just touch his chin. "Junny, I've… I've been so cruel to you. I've always believed that there were just some arenas where you just had to be selfish. But… I just now realized that no matter what, being selfish can hurt people. And… it's only natural that those that are hurt leave, so that they won't be hurt again." Her eyebrows furrowed a bit and she frowned, her eyelids falling slightly as her fingers felt the ends of Jun's hair. He stayed silent.

"I've been foolishly selfish. Akito was right. Always… chasing him around when I totally forgot that I was engaged, then going off and falling for Nagare, and then having a… relationship with that bitch Erina… When you stood through all of that. I know… I know that I've hurt you, a lot. But… you've stayed with me, for me, no matter what."

"Okay, so I'm like a loyal dog, what does that have to do with anything?" The words seemed to come out on their own accord. But Jun didn't apologize for them. He knew that something was making him speak exactly as he felt. Maybe…

"That's just it." His crudeness didn't seem to faze her at the least bit. "No one else had done that for me… I know I was the one that left Akito, but it was doomed to not last, everyone knew that except us. And Erina… that was her own fault. And Nagare… he may have stayed with me if I could've trusted him more. But, Junny, I don't blame you at all. But… do you see what I'm saying?"

"That I'm one of the few that has stuck with you?"

"Yes. Call me inspired, but… I think… that's what relationships really do take." Jun had no time to digest her words before hands gripped his cheeks and his lips were being ravaged by hers, the aqua-green eyes he was just previously staring into shut tight. It took mere seconds before his own were just as close as hers, his hands roaming her body until they came to rest at her hips. It was a kiss he had been groping for blindly ever since he knew her, and embrace he had been hungry for ever since they had became friends, a closeness he had desired ever since they became engaged.

The prickling in the back of his head never ceased through the entire kiss, and he began to panic that possibly he had already gone to bed and that this was just a dream, that it would just be his mind playing tricks on him. But it became more comforting until it formed itself into words, a voice, Yurika's voice.

"Oh, it's not a dream, Junny. I've just been in your head since we started dancing. I'm sorry. But I… I was scared, you know?"

'Of what?' It didn't seem strange at all to him that he was continuing a conversation in his head. It was this lack of wonder that caused Yurika to suddenly pull away, searching his face for an expression, concern in her eyes. "You're not confused?"

Jun shook his head, but opted to answer the mental message in the same method. 'No. I know you don't like your magic, but since you have to practice anyway, this is fine.' She smiled. "I was scared of what you would say. I've always pushed you away, and I was worried that you would have gotten used to that, and that my approaching you would suddenly be inappropriate. I don't know. It made sense in my head."

'I suppose it would. So… that memory…'

"Yes, I… I found it and replayed it in your head."

'Why?'

"Because that's when I first noticed you. Granted, it was a few glances, but I noticed that you never had any fun that night. And that you were looking at me like you would never be able to talk to me. It… it gave me confidence, because now I was a little scared of you!" A laugh, then the tingling stopped. Yurika pushed a strand of Jun's hair away from his eyes. "I have fancied you for a while, you know. It's just… this is one of the first times I've actually worked on it," she spoke, her voice sounding strange without the slight muffle from her speaking in his head. Jun nodded, resting his forehead on hers the second her hands were away from his face. "Flamma, I love you so much, Yurika."

"I know. I've known for a while." A pause. "You're so warm, you know that?"

"I'm always warm, Yurika. It's the magic."

"No. Even in your head. There was this… this heat. I don't know what it was, but it wasn't bad. It was almost… passionate."

Jun let out a small laugh through his nose and kissed her once again. It was something he had always wanted to do, but only now did it ever seem like it would ever happen in the first place.

~*~

He never should have come in here. He knew it before he had even entered the room. But there was something that drew him in there, almost like a sound he had to investigate. But it didn't matter anymore, not with this, this MONSTER inserting her knife into his abdomen again and again. He did not know who she was, but he knew she was a guest.

It didn't seem to faze him as she cut through the tendons and ligaments of his wrists, blood spattering her pale skin and the wooden floor, drenching his silver robes even more than they already were. It did in fact confuse him as to why she was doing it. Her voice. He could hear it, but barely. She mumbled things about him deserving it, that he never should have done it, that she could smell her on him. It wasn't really clear.

Magus, the PAIN. The slow emptiness of his blood, the sudden ache of ghost-limbs, the convulsing that had suddenly come. He fell back, his legs shaking far too much to support him, even with her holding him up. She glared at him, rancor burning in her eyes. "You won't get out of it that easily. You will die."

"No, you have to stop! Please!" He could see her. She looked positively frightened. She shook her head violently. "Why must you make me watch this again and again?" Would it be possible that this other woman would be able to stop this heinous crime?

"Because I need you." His murderer's voice seemed to take a softer note, as if prepared for this question, but not impatient. It didn't seem to fit her, now squatting and toying with her blood-soaked knife, dangling it above his chest. It didn't matter to him if she stabbed him again. She was right about one thing; he was going to die. He could feel his consciousness slipping, his vision going dark, a slight tingling in the back of his mind. His breathing quickened, trying to keep a hold on the world around him, as if it would somehow keep him alive.

A malicious smile grew on her face; it too splattered with the liquid that gave him life, spilling carelessly on the expensive floor. The Emperor would be angry. But that was most likely an understatement. His head was becoming very woozy and it was becoming more difficult to comprehend anything.

"It ends now." With that, she plunged the knife deep into his chest, completely center on his heart. The searing ache, no, pain, he let out a noise unintentionally, but it seemed much more quiet than it was. He lost his grip. Darkness closed in, and then he was engulfed in silver light. It was over.

She pulled her knife out of his chest and looked at it, gazing at the shine of the metal and the dark red fluid staining it. "We'll have to go earlier, so that I can clean up." She glanced at the other woman, sobbing in a corner of the room. "You may want to as well. We have to cover our tracks, after all."

"Why must you make me do this?"

"Come now, you knew this was coming. Now, we go." She nodded slowly, knowing that she was right. A flash of silver, and they were gone, their carnage left behind for anyone to find.

~*~

Rumiko felt his ears perk up suddenly, as if some sort of sound that was out of place had rung in his ears without his knowledge. He listened intently, hearing the common talking and laughter associated with the group in question. But something was amiss. Like a continuous ring in his ears, he could just feel that something had gone horribly wrong, but the extent of this could never be guessed.

After a once-over glance around the room to discover that it certainly wasn't in there, he gave a nod to his newly-wed wife. "Meg, I'm going to go out to the throne room and main hall for a moment, all right?" Megumi looked over his concerned look and realized that he wanted to check something, or felt a little odd at the moment and wanted some time to look things over from the outside, or something of the like. She nodded and Rumiko left, giving her gloved hand a quick squeeze as he made his way toward the double doors.

He opened it slowly, feeling a bit foolish for his anticipation. As if he was going to find anything in there. But of course, he hadn't actually been able to enter. The lights in there were electric, and they were commonly left on unless everyone was asleep. So it came to no surprise to Rumiko that the lamps were on.

What did come to a surprise was the body of one Mythos Entrada slumped unnaturally in one of the common chairs in the room, his arms at his sides and the ends of them, where his hands should have been, oozing blood onto the expensive floor. Just under his feet was a puddle of blood that started to run toward the back of the room. His head was flung to his side, his lips parted and his eyes wide open. The gruesome scene of such a horrendous act left Rumiko scrambling for words, his hand coming up to cover his mouth as a wave of nausea passed over him.

After gagging and coughing a few times, he was able to control himself to really focus on the problem at hand. Mythos had obviously been murdered during the party. The sudden ringing in Rumiko's ears could have possibly been Mythos groping for help. He searched his own head and realized that that was not the case. There wasn't an intruder, as the doors had already been spelled against them. An intruder would have instantly fallen unconscious and alarms would have sounded. He hated to admit it, but after a quick review of the situation, it could have only been a guest.

Instead of becoming sad over the death of the old emperor, he stomped his way back to the doors and flung them open with a rage that could have only been compared to his patron God only a mere year ago.

The doors crashed against the walls loudly, bringing an instant silence. "What is the meaning of this?!" he shouted, his amber eyes aflame with anger. There was no answer, but Megumi forced her way through the crowd and to her husband. "Rumiko, what's wrong?"

He closed his eyes, attempting to put a dam on his anger so he wouldn't snap at her. After composing himself, he said in a completely monotonous voice, "There's been a murder." Whispering broke out throughout the crowd, and Rumiko felt heavy as he watched Megumi's face contort into one of disgust and disbelief. "Who?"

"Mythos." Rumiko felt his anger well again. "Someone here has murdered Mythos Entrada, and I intend to figure out whom as soon as possible."

"Is it possible that it was an intruder?" Rumiko switched his gaze toward Inez, who now stepped forward and crossed her arms, fitting her reputation just a bit too well. Megumi still looked so puzzled at how something like this could happen, but she shook her head. "No, the front doors are spelled with a certain phrase, otherwise the alarms would have gone off and the intruder rendered unconscious until someone could counter it. That's… that's just how it goes. Rumiko," she urged, grabbing his sleeve and directing his attention toward her again, "are you sure? Here? In our home?"

Inez pushed her glasses up her nose. "Rumiko, I'd like to see this, if you would." Rumiko shook his head. "No, Lady Ai, this is not a sight for –"

"Let her go, Rumiko." Igadosu interrupted. Rumiko suddenly found himself at a loss for words again. "She would be most helpful, I'm sure, in this investigation. Perhaps we could also contact the authorities…"

"No. No, we can't. Not until I get a look at this." Inez pushed past the Emperor and empress of Ninlan and into the room. She gazed at the corpse for a moment before reaching into the pocket in her cloak, pulling out a pair of gloves. Then, she put them on and began to take in facts of the scene before her. "His hands have been severed, and there is a deep wound in his chest." She pushed on it a bit, feeling its position. "Yes, it's in his heart. Also, obvious wounds to his lower abdomen. You say this couldn't have been an intruder?"

"No."

"Hmm." Inez glanced around the room, squinting. "If you were to ask me, it seems as if this would be the work of the same person behind the murder of Kusakabe Haruki and Aqua Crimson, but that is just a guess. However, we must take precautions… they have been saying that the murderer behind those was a Jumper. I can't see magic very well, so…"

Rumiko nodded. "I can. And there is some sort of silver glitter, but it may have been his…" He came in, his wife sticking her head in a bit, then gasping. Much of the crowd entered then, drawn to the scene as one cannot look away from a train wreck. He came closer, noting the silver that covered the floor near the chair. "May I borrow one of those?" Inez nodded, handing him another gloves out of her pocket. After putting it on, he tentatively brushed the patch of silver, reaching out to determine precisely whose it was.

Everyone underestimated her, but that was her plan. Everyone just thought she was a complete ditz. But she was really a tactical genius. That's why Erina chose her to be the captain. Not because of her, or at least she believed.

Rumiko didn't need to hear anymore. It was obvious. He spun around instantly and pointed into the crowd. "You," he growled, his searing rage shining through in full for the first time. The crowd parted to see who he was pointing at, and stopped at Yurika, who tilted her head to the side in confusion. "You… you think I did this?" she stammered.

"You did this." He began walking towards her, but was stopped in a second by Megumi, stepping in front of him and holding her arms out. She shook her head. "There is no way that it could have been Yurika, try again."

"No, Megan, it was her, you can check it yourself."

"Yurika would never kill anyone!"

"And you said the same thing about Jun!"

Megumi gasped, but held her ground. "How could you even think of bringing this up?"

"Megan, I have a dead body in my throne room and the evidence points at her!"

"You're not certified to even make that kind of assumption, Rumiko!"

"Well, then explain why I have a spot of her signature in here?" Megumi opened her mouth, but found nothing to come out, and was just gaping. There was no explanation.

"Oh Magus, I never thought that…" Yurika flapped her hands at her face, which was growing red and she looking like she was either going to throw up or cry or both. "I didn't think it would come to that, I'm so, so sorry…"

"What? Out with it, Yurika!" growled Rumiko, who was instantly silenced by a look from Megumi. Yurika shook her head violently, but then ran over to where the gifts lay, picking one up from the top. "I Jumped in here earlier to check on him, but I never thought I would leave a signature here, or that it would matter… I'm so sorry…"

"Him?" Even the storming Emperor was caught off guard by this explanation. Yurika nodded quickly, opening the box herself. Megumi gasped and found herself instantly at Yurika's side. "It's a puppy!"

Yurika nodded, her tears finally spilling over. "I… I Jumped in here to check on him, I was so worried about him… I didn't think I would get in trouble for it…" Megumi shook her head, "no, it's okay, Yurika."

Rumiko rolled his eyes. "There's no proof."

"Pot, kettle." Rumiko found his jaw falling as he switched his gaze to Inez, who was pulling off her gloves. "But I suppose she obviously has alibis for her innocence for the entire night, yes?"

Yurika's eyes grew wide, then she nodded. Jun stepped forward. "She was with me a lot." Inez nodded. "Who else? I know she wasn't just with you, Aoi-san, no matter how she feels about you." Inez smiled a bit at Jun, but then felt it fall again. As soon as she finished speaking, hands flew up in the crowd of people she had hung around with, danced with, talked to, or was just seen by. Among them were Gai, Akito, Minato, Ruri, Lapis, Izumi, Hikaru, and many, many others, most of which were Nadesico crew in one way or another. It was because of this that Rumiko was suddenly skeptical. But that was until he noticed that his wife's hand was now raised, despite the fact that she stood at Yurika's side.

He threw his arms into the air. "I give up. But something must be done about this." Megumi nodded slowly, finding herself still staring at the grotesque corpse. It was all so fake, there was just no way she could possibly believe that that was Mythos there, that someone in there home, possibly in this room at this very moment, killed him. Her eyes grazed over the faces, many of which she had known from the Nadesico, and so many that she had just recently met. Could it have been any of them?

She shook her head. This was the attitude that was getting Rumiko pissed off and looking to point fingers at anyone, even Yurika. She brushed a strand of hair away from Yurika's face. Her wedding didn't seem to be affecting many. But there had also been fighting, new friendships, possible new relationships, and now this. The priest that had married her to Rumiko just that morning… killed in their own house. How was she supposed to feel safe? How was she supposed to know that her marriage wasn't cursed from the start?

"Gods damn it all to hell," she whispered, blocking these thoughts as quick as she could. She didn't need to be depressed on top of it. But she had to admit that her happiest day of her life was proving to be not as happy as others would believe. In fact, it could have even been considered a horrible day. She turned to Igadosu, who was just reaching out to touch her shoulder to make sure she was all right. She nodded slowly. "Igadosu, would you be so kind as to report this to the authorities as soon as possible? Tell them all that we know. I want to know who did this as soon as possible, and I'm sure that Rumiko would agree."

"I would." He still glared at Yurika, but kept his comments to himself, something that truly deserved Megumi's gratitude she felt. With her nod, he left the room, the crowd suddenly dispersing to come look at Mythos's body for anything they may have missed, come to comfort Yurika or ask Megumi and Inez questions, or just to go back to their rooms to talk privately. Megumi answered this as best she could, and as short as possible. When she got the majority to leave her alone, she looked into the box that now sat in Yurika's lap, as she had opted for sitting on the floor since she was so afraid of moving and so tired of standing. He was a cute little dog, a very furry golden-retriever that seemed completely oblivious to what was going on, except that the girl whose head was bent down wasn't paying any attention to him and the other girl was. He quickly moved over to where Megumi could see him better. Megumi smiled and patted him on the head, then began to pet him until she finally was able to rub his stomach. Yurika noticed the attention Megumi was giving her present, which was actually a few other residents of Yamada Manor's contribution, but a nice one at that. Yurika felt a rather rare smile grow on her face, despite the still ever-present copper scent that filled the air. Megumi smiled back and patted Yurika on the head in a similar fashion to the dog. Yurika looked a little happier to know she most definitely had an ally in Megumi, even if Rumiko suspected her of murder.

Megumi looked around the room suddenly at who was still standing there. Mari was talking with Saburota, shuddering at the obvious thought. Jun, on the other side of the room with Akito and a few of their other friends, looked confused, not wanting to piss off Rumiko, obviously, but also not wanting to look inconsiderate. Hikaru, surprisingly enough, was standing over by the ruined chair, staring at what used to be Mythos Entrada. She sighed, clasped her hands in Pentakami prayer, and bowed deeply, full of respect. Megumi frowned. There were many others, but the puppy was intent on getting out of the box and she suddenly had to try to keep him in. It had touched them all, even if not everyone had met him when they had originally come to Carmina to ask for the barrier that protected and isolated Ninlan for centuries. This entire thing was crazy, and Megumi honestly could not wait for this day to end.

~*~

TBC…

~*~

A/N: So, um, yeah? ^^;;; That kind of sucked, I think, and got a little wordy at the end, but yeah. That was the plot suddenly coming up and slapping people in the face. But anyway… I didn't fuck it up too bad, did I? Yeah, I did… Dammit. Anyway, I have no freaking clue when the next chapter will be. I hate the cat. And other things that are equally sucking. And I have no idea what will be in it, actually. But this should be a good cliffhanger for now. I'm just upset that I didn't get to follow through in my plans of having this finished by January… oh well. It's okay. I'll be seeing you when I actually have time to work on this again. Till then, tell me what you thought and don't you dare yell at me for a lack of updating. 


	22. So much involved with this latest

A/N: At this point in time, I feel very horrible. I don't mean sick, but I mean depressed. I've been sleeping way too much and skipping class far too much as well. Tomorrow means nothing to me. But I must also remember that midterms are next week. If you remember correctly, TDoNtD was started by stresses of family and midterms, but it was nothing like this. So, just to give me something to be happy and excited about, I decided to start another chapter. I don't know when it will be finished, but I frankly don't care at the point, about anything, really. And since there was nothing to respond to… I'll do a small recap. However small it can be. We checked in with Itsuki and Ryoko. Akito and Yurika closed some doors. Izumi and Inez had some strange discussion while Prospector decided that it wasn't Hikaru that he has a crush on. Inez analyzed the relationship between Erina and Kaguya. Yurika and Jun… I don't know if they are together or not. We'll probably ask them in the chapter or chapters later and find out there. And the most important thing… Mythos has been murdered inside the Ecclesiastical Palace , and Yurika is suddenly a suspect. I told you this was a mystery. Now… I don't know what will happen. I say we just let it play out, actually. This is all going to be after-after stuff, though, especially important since Yurika might actually be the one behind this. She might be a good actress. Who really knows anymore? But here it is.

~*~

"Thank you for your support in our efforts again, Your Highness. I'm certain that all in your sect will grieve the lost of your more trusted advisor."

Rumiko shook his head. "No, it is all right. I will do all I can to be certain that this case is solved as quickly as possible." The officer in the window nodded. "Justice will be served, I assure you." With that, he saluted and the window closed.

Rumiko sighed, shutting off the communicator that the crew of the Nadesico had issued him when they were preparing to make their trek to Carmina. He had kept it and had made sure they were in development as soon as possible. It was most likely the most important thing, he believed, with its ability to quickly contact any of the other nations. Especially in this case the authorities of Carmina, Earth, and Jupiter.

He unhooked the watch-like device and laid it on his dresser. He suddenly felt some sort of wind and almost had the urge to scream at Hikaru, until he realized that she, along with all of her housemates and everyone else, left that morning, to his annoyance. He would have rather Yurika stayed to be questioned at least, but it was obvious that he was the minority when it came to that belief.

But no, the slight wind came from the open doors at the other end of the chamber, their white, lace curtains flapping softly. They were doors that led to the only balcony in the palace, and Rumiko was sure he hadn't opened them. The balcony looked over the street leading toward the Ecclesiastical Palace , at the city that was once black at night, but now only partially darkened with the street lanterns that were still fully lit. It was only about eight in the evening, after all, and the roads that, at this time a year ago, would be silent, there was still a bit of hustle and bustle.

But all of this Rumiko could not see from the other side of the room, even with his glasses on, as a figure blocked it, leaning on the stone railing that separated the balcony from the open air. Her hair was braided into some small braids and held together by flowers, most of which were loose or falling out. Her purple hair trailed down her upper back until it brushed the top of the extensively elegant white gown. It wasn't just a dress, trailing behind her so far that it was still in the room at the ends. The top half hugged her petite frame, while the bottom half of her body was hidden under lacy, glittering folds upon folds. But despite Megumi's attire, the way she stood, fanning herself slightly against the slowly cooling early summer air, screamed that she was in some sort of inner tension, even as she looked onto the stretches of the city that had become her home.

Rumiko walked slowly toward her, almost beginning to feel bad about the whole ordeal. That whole day, after their wedding guests had actually departed, was dedicated to the investigation, and only finished about three hours prior, Carmina authorities taking the body to their coroner for further examination and the clean-up of the scene, the investigators sure they had all the evidence they needed, thanking Rumiko for his efforts and information regarding one Misumaru Yurika of Mars. It didn't take a psychic or a Magus's Rage to realize that that is what Megumi was thinking about. When Megumi decided to stay on Ninlan with Rumiko, rather than follow the Nadesico back to Earth, Megumi and Yurika had given up their rivalry completely. They had become friends, good friends. And since Megumi was crew, despite her leaving, she knew specifically why Yurika was chosen to be the captain. That she was brilliant, a tactical genius unmatched just about anywhere. That Yurika was dedicated to those close to her. That, while Yurika had fought in the war –as had they all –she would never hurt a fly, let alone kill someone. But Rumiko knew what rage could do. He had watched Jun kill Akatsuki with a mere thought. No real movement, but pure, maniacal desire for one's death. And everyone then had believed he wouldn't hurt a fly.

"But Yurika has no reason to be angry with Mythos." Rumiko didn't even blink. Ever since the prophecy about him and Megumi had been fulfilled and the Pentakami back to full-speed, they had a specific tie to each other, and they always seemed to be able to tell what the other was thinking. That, and Rumiko had offered the same explanation at the time. Megumi still hadn't turned around, still staring out to the horizon, blocked mostly by buildings that seemed to grow in size by the day, out to the ocean that separated that smaller continent from the rest of the world. "At all. Nothing would have made her kill another, Rumiko." She looked over her shoulder at him, snapping her white fan shut. "She was one of the only people completely opposed to the use of the PT Cannon."

Rumiko looked away. The PT Cannon, also known as the Apocalypse Cannon by Ninlanders, was the only thing that seemed completely immoral since its creation on Mars, used to decimate both the Martian and Jupiterian empires. More commonly used in the present by warships equipped with Phase Transition Cannons. It was one of the main reasons that the empire under Magus's hold had separated themselves from the rest of the system and blocked out all use of Martian weapons and technology. Ironic that the TST Calculator, the most advanced of all Martian technology, was now sitting in a cave near the Forest of Femininity , just outside of Somenolenthe. Magus, Somenolenthe. It was all so long ago.

Jun killed Akatsuki because he was possessed by Magus and was attempting to kill Yurika. However, everyone knew that Yurika loved Akatsuki and vice versa, even Rumiko knew it. So it made far too much sense for Jun to have killed him, despite his predicted behavior to never hurt anyone.

"Jun represses violent thoughts. He was extremely violent whenever he is provoked. You know this. There was a reason Flamma chose him. He's passionate about everything."

"Yes, but there is a reason Magus chose Yurika, and I fail to see how it could be anything but maliciousness."

"Do you even listen to yourself?" It wasn't a sarcastic remark in the least bit. She just looked to the floor before actually entering the room, closing the doors behind her. "Yurika isn't like Magus. In fact, it would be safe to say that she is the opposite. And that… that may be why Magus chose her."

Rumiko narrowed his eyes, trying to see what Megumi obviously did. He didn't understand. That wasn't the way that Magus worked. It sounded more like the work of Aer, if any one of the five. Megumi could easily sense this confusion, and continued to speak. "She was chosen at a time when Magus was still in power. A girl from Mars, the empire that fell and was inspiration for his domination of Ninlan. He chose her so he could easily use her. I think that's also why he chose Yukina. She wouldn't have hurt anyone, even with her temper. But she is from Jupiter, the other empire. Don't you see? Is his plan that hard to understand?" Blue met amber, and Rumiko could see how she felt. It seemed to make so much sense. Magus had always been known for his ambition and deceit, much less than Aer, but still present enough to be mentioned. He shook his head. "Does this have anything to do with it?"

"I don't know." Sadness entered Megumi's voice for the first time since the incident. She had mostly been angry that someone could have done this, as Rumiko had, and angry that they could even suspect Yurika of the deed, but it was odd to see her now frowning wistfully. She stared at the floor for a while, then lifted up her hair, not paying attention to the white flowers that flew out and hit the floor. She faced her back to Rumiko. "Could you unhook me please?"

He nodded and began to undo the line of hooks that held her bodice together. There was absolutely nothing sexual about the task of helping her undress, not now. She didn't think anything on it once he finished, pulling her arms out of the short, yet puffy sleeves. She got the top half of her dress off before she allowed herself a small sob, rendered helpless to her own thoughts and emotions. "Rumiko, our marriage is DOOMED!" she rasped, covering her face with her hands.

He grasped her wrists, trying to pry them away from her face, but she shook her head violently. "Our… Our Joiner was murdered the day we married, Rumiko. How much more obvious can an omen be?"

"It is not an omen. Fate has played in our lives enough. We just cannot let this slip by, that is all."

"When will we be able to rest, Rumiko? When will we earn our rest and peace?" She let her hands be pulled away from her face, her fear and desperation shining through her anger about Yurika. Rumiko found himself unable to answer her, and she instantly reached out for him, burying her face into the shoulder of his silver and yellow robes.

It was like a flash. He knew exactly what to say, no matter how stupid it sounded. "When the weavers of Fate itself decide that it is time." He knew that it was completely contradictory. But something told him that it was the only real answer here. There was no other explanation.

~*~

It was a little surprising to find that it was dark and late when the Jump Shuttle arrived in Kawasaki, mostly because those that had, once again, received a free ride with the expense of helping in the service of the shuttle had expected it to be dark, yet early, and becoming more increasingly light as the minutes were going. After all, that is the state of time in which they had left Ninlan to return to Earth, and they had pretty much agreed to Jump it to two minutes later. However, there was one person on the ship that knew that the sudden change in time had happened, and mostly due to her own working.

Yurika had spent the rest of the night trying to prove herself innocent until she finally made it to bed –thirty minutes before it was time to get up again. Each and every single one of her alibis had somehow been touched by her magic, and mostly because of her own doing, and therefore refuting their accounts on her presence. She was extremely regretful that she had thrown her magic around so, but she was sure that it would make no difference in the end.

And thus, that is why she had single-handedly changed the arrival time to much later than expected. All she wanted to do was go home, even if that home was truly just Yamada Manor. She was just so very tired of it all.

"Boson Jump Shuttle Zero-Five has now arrived at Dock C. Please clear the boarding deck for passengers to exit and find their parties. There will be a short fifteen minute delay to ensure the safety of the shuttle before we will allow boarding for the next flight to Carmina, Ninlan. Thank you for choosing Confident Protector Boson Jump Shuttle Service!" A cheery, female voice, most obviously recorded, chimed out among the grumbling onlookers, obviously annoyed that the shuttle was late to begin with. Yurika ran a hand through her blue-violet hair, trying to not look as if she had staged it all.

"Dude, man, dude, are WE ever late!" cried Hikaru, her suitcase hanging off her hand slung on her back, slumped over by the weight. She was only carrying it because she couldn't get Akito or Gai to help. Akito, nearby and carrying his own stuff, shrugged. "Must have been a fluke. It happens." Yurika quickly nodded, trying to not let her friends know that she was actually the one that overrode their attempts for a quick return and opted for a slow one.

She didn't have much time to keep up the charade, however, as she felt a hand land on her shoulder. Panicked, she spun, coming face to face with two police officers. Her green eyes grew large and she started to breath heavily, frightened. She knew why they had stopped her, and it had nothing to do with the Jump Shuttle.

"I assume you are Misumaru Yurika, are you not?" The speaking officer was also the one that had stopped her. His grip was firm on her shoulder, but not painful, despite his menacing stare with her dark brown eyes. He stayed completely still as he waited for a response. Yurika felt her mouth open and close several times, until she decided that words weren't going to work, so she nodded slowly, staring at the ground and feeling tears come up again, her head pounding from the stress and lack of sleep. Even here, in the place that was rapidly becoming her home, she wasn't innocent of anything.

The woman next to him, looking more stoic than Ruri or Lapis, produced a pair of handcuffs from her belt and nodded. "Misumaru-san, I'm afraid we have to place you under arrest, if only for your own safety. We'd also like to ask you a few questions regarding the recent string of murders. If you cooperate as much as possible, I assure you we will have you back home as soon as we are capable."

Jun, having been walking with his friends, noticed that Yurika was somewhat lagging and turned to discover why. He quickly found himself running at full throttle back. "Wait, what's going on? Yurika hasn't done anything! That's why they let her leave on Ninlan!"

The male officer shook his head. "We're sorry sir, but Ninlan is restricted to the examination of their own case. We are here because the Emperor of Ninlan has suggested that we investigate Misumaru-san's role in this. It is completely probable that She has nothing to do with this. But understand that if we get a lead in a high-profile case such as this, we have to investigate it. Misumaru-san, do you understand this?"

Yurika didn't want to go. She really didn't. But she knew that if she didn't, it would make her life much, much more hard. What were five or six hours if it would prove her innocence? She knew she hadn't killed Mythos. She could have never killed Mythos. She was far too preoccupied with checking on Megumi's new puppy to think about killing anyone, even if she was thinking about it at all. Which she hadn't. She nodded slowly and turned around, offering her hands behind her back to be restrained. The female officer nodded and latched them on quickly, but not very tightly. Yurika couldn't get them off, but they weren't uncomfortable.

Jun quickly grabbed Yurika's arm. To him, she had gone out of her mind. It was bad enough hat all of them on Ninlan believed she had killed Mythos. Now people here thought that she no only killed him, but Kusakabe and Aqua Crimson as well? And why was she going through with this? They all knew she was innocent.

Yurika, sensing Jun's disconcert, smiled at him. "Junny, it's okay. This is where it will all be sorted out. Everything will be fine. I'll answer their questions, and then come home, okay?" She quickly kissed his cheek and followed the officers to their patrol car in the parking lot.

The rest of their crowd ran to the railing separating the inside of the station from the slope and stairs leading to the parking lot. Akito snickered, which earned him a glare from Jun. He shook his head and cupped his hands around his mouth, shouting, "Hey, Yurika!"

She looked up before getting into the police car, a little shocked that Akito was the one calling to her. "I still got arrested before you did! I still win!" Yurika found herself smiling out of amusement, rather than to comfort someone else. She tossed her head and shouted back, "It's just a Martian thing!" before getting into the car's backseat, the stoic policewoman shutting the door for her and climbing into the passenger seat of the car.

Jun bit his lip, worrying the skin there as this situation worried at his mind. Ryoko, having come out of the sudden shock they had faced, patted Jun on the back. "Don't worry, Big Bro, she'll be back before we know it. And she's right. Going with them will clear her name, since she's the only suspect they have and all."

Jun nodded slowly, but his step-sister's words didn't comfort him at all. It still scared him that it was Yurika that they all thought was capable of murder. That she was going to be questioned. That she was leaving without them. He was the one that was capable of doing such damage, not her. He had killed for her once before. Why didn't they suspect him? Flamma, was it all because of a stupid signature?

~*~

"In today's top story, it appears as if authorities have finally rounded up their first suspect in the string of murdered Jumpers as of late. Good evening, I'm Anastasia Ball."

"And I'm Andy Suarez. Having received a tip from the Emperor of Ninlan himself after another murder took place inside his very home, and on his wedding night no less, the local authorities in Eastern Kawasaki, Japan, have taken the suspect into custody for the moment, though it is still not clear whether or not this is the person the police have been looking for. We have live, team coverage at the Ecclesiastical Palace in Carmina, Ninlan, and the police station in Eastern Kawasaki , where the suspect is currently is being interrogated. Drew Evans, can you hear us?"

"Yes Andy, I can hear you. I am standing in front of the Ecclesiastical Palace here in Carmina, where just last night the Emperor Rumiko Adagio of Ninlan and Empress Megan Adagio of Earth were wed in the presence of who they believed were friends. But it most definitely proved not."

"It was here, in this elegant entrance into the palace that one of the emperor's most trusted advisors, the former emperor Mythos Entrada of Ninlan was found brutally murdered in a fashion exceptionally similar to that of Aqua Crimson of Earth and Kusakabe Haruki of Jupiter."

"It honestly looked like a bloodbath. I didn't get a very good look, since there were a lot of people there, of course, but it was horrendous even from what I saw."

"But for the first time, a lead has appeared with a form of evidence called a magical signature. A signature, according to the Pentakami religion, is a way of determining whose magic is where, by attaching some sort of emotional value or visual projection into it. To those who are capable of viewing such tracking devices, they appear not only when a Jumper uses their powers, but also if they were to Boson Jump."

"Unfortunately, it doesn't tell when it happened, not that it would help in the first place, since Time-Space Teleportation is in fact time travel."

"Unfortunately, I can't tell you precisely how Entrada was found or any of the specifics behind this high-profile investigation, especially about how they read such signatures, but I can tell you, Anastasia, Andy, that the signature that they did find was that of a Boson Jump. And not just any Boson Jump, mind you, but that of Empress Megan Adagio of Earth's fried, the former Captain of the Nadesico, twenty-two-year-old Misumaru Yurika of Mars."

"Drew, is there any word on the effect this crime has on the Pentakami religion and Ninlan government at all?"

"No, Andy, there hasn't, surprisingly, except for the fact that the Emperor of Ninlan has dedicated his time to helping Earth and Jupiter authorities, specifically in testing signatures in the other scenes of crime in this string."

"Hmm, that's interesting, considering the latest uproar against Jumpers and their existence."

"Drew, you mentioned that this murder is very similar to the others, yet you never spoke of whether or not it could have been an intruder."

"Well, Anastasia, I didn't because this palace has a strange thing that could possibly be called a security system. One of the Jumpers casts a spell on the door everyday so that it would only allow those with permission to be there in. all others and intruders would be rendered unconscious easily."

"So they believe it would be someone on the inside."

"Yes, that is what the officials here have said."

"But couldn't someone just Boson jump inside?"

"It was assumed that they couldn't, since there were no Jump field inside at all. If you recall, a Jumper needs a Jump field to Boson Jump from and to for a Boson jump to take place. Most commonly, these are created by the presence of Retrospect particle emissions from Chulip material or Bose particles from previous Boson Jumps, or even naturally from black holes or other anomalies."

"Thank you, Drew. We now join Cordell Strong from outside the station where Misumaru is being held at this time. Cordell?"

"Thank you, Anastasia. Right inside this building behind is the first suspect in what seems to be becoming one of the oddest sort of series crime anyone has seen in years, what seemed to be the systematic destruction of important officials of all three major nations, Earth, Jupiter, and Ninlan. Misumaru Yurika is the only person thus far that they have been able to collect any evidence against.

"Earlier this evening, Misumaru and her housemates arrived at this Jump Shuttle station, apparently later than anyone expected. Escorted by two officers to this station, she was immediately put under questioning."

"I frankly wouldn't put it past her. I mean, wasn't she a soldier in the war? And ain't she a Jumper? I've heard rumors that they are unstoppable killing machines. Capable of decimating a man with a thought. We should get rid of them first, if you ask me."

"Man, I remember the rumors that flew around right after the war… it was her ship that ended it, and without having to take too much of a stance in the last battle. It was an inspiration, man."

"Hey, I sleep in a bed across the room from her every night! I know that she uses exactly a pea size amount of toothpaste and has this weird OCD with sweaters. Yurika wouldn't ever kill anyone, not even someone with a stick up his ass as much as Mythos, and certainly not on poor Meg's wedding day. That's just beyond rude, you know?"

"That last interview was with Amano Hikaru, a Jumper from the L2 colony Satsuki Midori before it was destroyed by Jovian forces during the war. She, and six other Jumpers, all live in one house with Misumaru. After this, the residence may or may not go under surveillance, specifically because of the sheer amount of Jumpers gathered in one place."

"But Cordell, wouldn't that be under Strict Scrutiny? Is there a compelling public interest involved?"

"I'm glad you asked that, Andy. As in a person one of Drew's interviews stated, it's almost impossible to place when the crime actually took place, if you consider that it was a Jumper. Boson Jumping is, in fact, traveling through time, and in that case it could have been someone from twenty years ago, or someone from twenty years from now and beyond. Alibis have little to no value any longer. And if you could easily just travel back in time to kill someone and have no one suspect a thing, it really does put a lot of pressure on keepers of peace and justice."

"I would assume so. Any word on when they believe when they will release Misumaru from their custody?"

"I'm afraid not. It all depends on what is said during interrogation."

"All right, thank you, Cordell."

"We will be tracking this story as it continues to develop. In other news, should teachers be able to put a lawsuit against students that threaten them? Phyllis Lang has the story. Phyllis?"

~*~

"Did you kill Mythos Entrada?"

"No, I didn't!" It was a rather large room, occupied only by some dim lamps, some chairs, and a table. It wasn't like the usual questioning rooms depicted in movies and TV, but rather somewhere where Yurika could actually feel a little comfortable about answering their questions without forgetting that she was, in fact, being questioned by the police chief. He was actually rather calm, not harsh or even menacing, but more like someone Yurika could trust. She suspected that was why he even warranted his position.

"It's all right, you don't have to get so excited, Yurika. May I call you that?" He seemed friendly, which contrasted sharply with the situation. Yurika swallowed and nodded slowly, willing her nerves to calm themselves such as the tall man seated in front of her was.

"Okay. What were you doing during the party after Emperor and Empress Adagio's wedding?"

"I talked to some people, danced with some others, got a little upset at Akito… nothing I wouldn't normally do, except…" She blushed, wondering why this had come up in her mind, especially now. "Except that I approached Junny. But that has nothing to do with this, does it?"

"Nothing more than it being a record of your whereabouts. So why did you Boson Jump into the throne room of the palace?"

Yurika fell silent. She hadn't been thinking at the time, and it had just come so naturally. "I Jumped in there before the ceremony to the day before to check on the puppy I and a few others were giving Meg and Rumiko. I didn't think that it would leave a signature or even be a big deal…"

"Are you aware that Boson Jumping to a private area without permission is an unlawful act, punishable by either a fine or jail-time?"

Yurika's jaw instantly dropped, all of her straggling attempts to remain calm running to the winds. She should have known something like this, but somehow she had no clue. She was a Boson jump Experiment Subject, and she obviously had assumed that the rules of the experiment applied to the rest of the world. Especially since she had never heard otherwise. She shook her head violently. "Sir, you don't understand! I'm a Jump Subject! It's my job to do that, and I… I just… I never knew that it was against the law, I swear on my God of Spirit that I never would have done it if I knew it was wrong!"

"A Jump Subject? For Nergal? You're in those experiments where they are trying to perfect Jumpers with the exercise?" Yurika nodded her head, ready to cry again, but somehow not being able to. "Hmm. No wonder you were able to single-handedly change the arrival time of the Jump Shuttle. Okay, next question. Can I trust you to not tell anyone what I am about to tell you now? It's vital that this stays secret to weed out those that would like to get the fame of 'confessing' for a crime they never did. You never know how many wackos there are out there."

Yurika nodded slowly. "I won't say a word." He nodded and stood, beginning to pace. "I'm sure your aware of our conclusion that this latest string of murders –and we are in fact sure that it was the same person for each –is a Jumper. We know it was done by the same person because of the brutality of them, the lack of intrusion evidence, and the fact that they are all rather well-known members of society. But the reason we believe it may be a Jumper is because we have our own in the force that specialize in identifying signatures. Each site thus far has had a patch somewhere, whether it was near the body or inside their own mind, that is marked directly to you. This, not Emperor Adagio's tip, is why we have brought you here."

Yurika's eyes widened and she let her vision go out of focus. No wonder Rumiko suspected her. No wonder they did. With evidence like that, who could blame them? But she knew she had never done these things, never had any reason to do these things. Could she…

Was it possible that she was going to Jump back in time and do them in the future, only in present time?

"Kusakabe Haruki, Aqua Crimson, Mythos Entrada," she whispered, covering her face with her hands. All of these names were more than just names to her. She knew them, could see their faces, had spoken with each of them herself. In fact, she had tried to persuade each and every one of them to do something for her.

Bingo.

She suddenly stood, her chair pushing itself back with the force. The sudden movement surprised the police chief, but he quickly gained his composure as Yurika pointed her finger at him, shaking it. "You found traces of my magic in all of their heads!"

"Yes." Yurika's mouth turned into what looked like a maniacal smile, hysterical and possibly in need of psychological treatment. "Kusakabe Haruki, Vice Admiral of the Superior Male Forces of the Jupiterian Empire tried to persuade us to convince the Earth to surrender to their will. This was before we even knew magic existed, you know, still during the war, before we knew how Boson Jumping worked. I may have touched him then, without knowing it. See, it fits!"

The man crossed his arms. It did, in fact, fit very nicely. But it was the truth, because everyone knew that's when Shiratori Tsukumo was assassinated by his best friend for defending the Earth's cause and desires for peace. Once the war was over, the truth about it all came out. Everyone knew this. Everyone also knew that it was the Nadesico that they had come together with, the ones that had turned down the terms of surrender. But it didn't explain the other two. "And Miss Crimson?"

"Aqua Crimson… She got Akito to go to her mansion and eat some of her cooking, with the paralyzing agent in it. Megumi and I went to look for him. She wanted to die with him in battle. She was out of her mind. And she had a Transport Chulip in her backyard with only one Jupiter robot in it. So I might have tried to get her to let Akito go, since I still believed I was in love with him at the time. That fits too, doesn't it?"

It didn't take a genius to know Aqua Crimson had been crazy during her life and obsessed with love and tragedy. But a check in the official records, which he did just then, proved that it was an experimental Chulip that had landed on Tenician Island , just as Yurika had said. Once he closed his reference windows, he looked at her in awe. She had told the truth completely and totally to her best ability thus far. It was becoming more and more obvious that it was most definitely not Yurika. But there was still one more, the one with the most evidence playing against her. "And Mythos Entrada?"

Yurika sat down, feeling the pressure of the time. It was one thing to look onto the times of the Nadesico in happiness. She even looked at Tsukumo's death and still felt happy, because it reminded her that they had won the war for him shortly after, even though his passing was sad, and his funeral was just as sad. And looking at the instance with Aqua made her laugh, mostly because of how absurd it really was and how none of them had realized it at the time. But when she remembered Ninlan… Her memory was brought to Akatsuki. She had quickly fallen in love with him. Although she could not trust him anymore than she could throw him, he was everything she had wanted in a man, EVERYTHING. But it was her distrust that ruined it all. And Magus's greed that ended his life. Even now, Yurika didn't blame Jun for killing Akatsuki. She knew that Jun had done what was best, and that Akatsuki would have wanted it that way. But it still didn't quell her sadness, even with things with Jun going much better than before.

"Mythos… was emperor of Ninlan at the time. It was before… before Akatsuki Nagare died. Before the rise of the Pentakami and before Ninlan was in contact with Earth. They were isolated from the rest of the system by a field generator that kept any of the Martian technology, most of which we depended on in our ship, from working at all. We… We traveled to Carmina just to get him to turn it off, as he was the only one that could, as the Emperor of the planet. I… I convinced him to do so, almost all by myself. But this was before I had a good skill in control, since I've been working on that since we came back. In the end, he did, in fact, turn it off, but then there was the accident with Inez and then Rumiko after we came back to Somenolenthe… It was… It was all very, very hard, you know?"

This time, The man only had Ninlan's lack of records to blame for not being able to compare her story to anything. But in looking at how Yurika now stared off into space nostalgically, unhappily, and in comparison to the other stories that matched up perfectly, he had little choice in this matter. She had proven herself innocent, at least at the moment.

"Well, Yurika, I don't know what to tell you. Your stories check out well and good enough, and we do have this innocent until proven guilty thing…"

"…Does that… Does that mean I'm okay?" there was a hopeful, little girl quality to her suddenly small voice. He couldn't help but smile. "Yes, it does. Until further notice, that is."

Yurika grinned and stood, running over to give him a hug. "Oh, thank you so very much! I don't think you even understand how much this means to me!" She stepped back and fisted her hands on her hips, smiling. "Were you just nice to me or something?"

He chuckled. "Well, I did admire how you were able to solve the war's problems without too much bloodshed on your part, not to mention to discover a whole other planet while you were at it."

Yurika giggled, then took a more serious tone. "I don't suppose I can call someone to come get me, could I?"

"Go ahead, the phone's in the front."

~*~

Akito found himself three inches from a ringing phone just as he was adding the soup into the frying pan of sautéed okara. He quickly grabbed it and positioned it between his cheek and his shoulder as he stirred the concoction. "Moshi-moshi?"

"Oh, Akito, is that you? That was sure fast. I wouldn't have expected you to be sitting right next the phone…"

Despite his dislike for the girl, he felt himself smiling. "Don't flatter yourself, Yurika; I'm just in the kitchen. You off the hook? You sound happy."

"You betcha! What's for dinner?"

"Nothing special, since we're tired and jet-lagged and all. Just some prepackaged bowl-meals and I'm making some okara since I got a freaking request…" Akito rolled his eyes. Sometimes, he really did feel like everyone's bitch, specifically when it was Jun that had requested this dish, but he knew that Jun was just as much on edge as Yurika, which reminded him. "So, you need like a ride, or something?"

"That is what I'm calling for, Akito, yes."

"Okay, give me a second." Akito turned the heat off and rested the frying pan on the stove, pulling the phone from away his mouth and ear. "JUNNY! Pick up the phone!"

Jun had been sitting in the parlor with various other housemates watching some dumb organization show. He thought it was the stupidest thing on the planet, but Ryoko insisted that he sit down and watch it, specifically because his pacing and worrying about was making her nervous. After futile attempts to make him calm down and assuring him that Yurika was going to be fine, she forced him to sit and not move. When the phone actually rang, his attempts to jump up and grab it were thwarted by Ryoko throwing her legs over his lap and holding him down in a fashion that simulated him being in a seatbelt in the car. But once Akito yelled for Jun to pick up the phone, Ryoko relaxed her legs and let them be flung out of the way as he ran around the couch and dived for the phone on the wall. "Yurika?"

Yurika giggled when she heard Jun's ever-worried voice. "Hey there, Junny. Can you come and pick me up? They're letting me go."

It took a moment for Jun to find his voice. He was just so extremely happy and relieved that she was all right and coming home. But this moment lasted too long for Ryoko's satisfaction, who had gotten up and put her ear to the other side of the phone when Jun had said Yurika's name. She was her friend after all. Ryoko took the phone from Jun just as he appeared to be ready to drop it and leaned against the wall. "Nice going, Yurika. Junny's in shock. You're at the Eastern Station, right?"

"Yeah… How did you know?"

"It was all over the news earlier. You missed Hikaru saying on national television that you have an obsession with sweaters."

"I do hope you called her a bitch for me."

"Oh, don't you worry. You sound happy… things went well, then."

"Yeah… I'll tell you guys all about it in the car, just come and get me out of here!"

"Will do. Later." Ryoko hung up the phone and grasped her stepbrother's upper arms. "Junny, wake up. I am not driving a vegetable to go pick up the vegetable's prospective girlfriend."

It was that comment that pulled Jun back into awareness. "Wh… What?" Ryoko laughed and tugged on the sleeve of his gray t-shirt. "Come on, big brother. We gotta go pick up Yurika."

~*~

She rolled her eyes, as if to push the exhaustion away. But it didn't work, and she found herself yawning softly, her pale hand coming up to cover her mouth from spreading any of her germs into the air.

Lapis was alone in the Main Computer Maintenance Office, seated in the large gray, almost metallic chair, in front of, surprisingly enough, the only computer in the room. The room had been initially decorated to suit the original Head of Computer Maintenance, who had this odd obsession with muscle cars, and actually had a model sitting on the black surface of the desk and a poster of some on the gray-painted wall. The rest of the room was a variety of blacks and grays, with short cubicle walls separating the desk area from the rest of the room, though all there was left to the room was a cough, two chairs similar to the one Lapis sat in now, and a chess set to pass the time with. It was looking rather attractive to her golden eyes at the moment, but instead, something else came to mind. With a glace to the clock and reading that it was nearly midnight . She really should have been heading off to her room a few floors up, but instead found herself pulling the laptop on the desk out of sleep as she hovered her hands above the would-be keyboard.

The computer was created for her and her alone, almost the same as Omoikane to Ruri. But this laptop had no personality, something she was grateful for. She didn't need to become dependent on a machine for the low-scale social relations she required as a person.

A person. She wrinkled her nose at the notion. People were filthy, Neanderthal-like, far too worried about emotions and desires to become anything more than what they really were. That was what wrong with society, no, civilization as a whole. Based on instincts. If everyone just did what was necessary to live and focus on expanding their knowledge of their surroundings, they would have been a much more advanced and formidable race. However, Lapis was sure she was the only one in the world that felt that way. She sighed and went through all of the firewalls, checking to make sure that Ruri, or anyone else for that matter, had not made any attempts to break in again, or were doing so at the time.

As she passed the piece of secure fences that had been attacked once before, Lapis felt her mouth turn up into a smirk. They were perfect, as if one of the most powerful hackers in the world hadn't touched them with hostility in mind at all. She caressed them with her digital hand, just as pale as the ones poised above the flat, nanomachine surface that was the sad attempts of a keyboard. It was one of the greatest triumphs of her short lifetime, thwarting the desires of the one they claimed she was a clone of. But no. She was not clone of Ruri. Ruri was flawed. Ruri was a person. Lapis, Lapis was perfect. She would not destroy her body for pleasure, as Ruri was doomed to do. Lapis didn't need friends like Ruri did. Lapis had purpose where Ruri no longer did. She sighed in contentment as she continued to check the firewalls.

Not finding anything, Lapis found herself looking for one more thing to do before going up to her room. It was against regulation, but she was still able to do it anyway. She quickly scanned any organic nanomachines in the entire building, no, the compound. No Hari, he had most likely left much earlier. Kaguya was in Erina's office, but once Lapis learned of her former captain's location, she quickly continued scanning, not wanting to know what was happening. She was, after all, still a child.

It appeared that Inez was still there, in her laboratory several floors down. Inez's laboratory was actually deep underground, just as Erina's office was at the top. Lapis had wondered if it had to do with their arguments as of late, or just for Jump Experiment requirement. She hissed as she realized where her mind had gone and vowed to slap herself once she was out.

Inez's entire existence, in short, pissed Lapis off. It wasn't as if Inez wasn't the kind of person Lapis could admire; no, it was deeper than that. Lapis did, in fact, admire her, and it made her feel very, very dirty. Inez, like Ruri, was a PERSON, bent on desires and pleasures of the body and soul, while at the same time focused on the world and its workings. 'And that isn't all,' she thought, and since she was still in her digital form in the Nergal network, said, 'but it's about the fact that she was Nergal's first child.' She knew very well what it meant to be Nergal's child. To be brought in at an early age, raised up to a large amount of knowledge and greatness, almost so that you were a legend. It was a tradition that was born with Inez herself, found in the Martian deserts when she was around eight. Lapis's age. Ruri was also one of Nergal's children, whether she wanted to admit it or not. She had been the focus of the company since she was four, until she was drafted onto the ship. But because she actually had a family, she was dropped. It could have even been said that Hari was one of Nergal's children. He was brought in when he was about seven. He had completed his education under them, lightning fast as per usual, and had quickly become an operator, just as she was raised to be.

Lapis frowned. None of them were truly Nergal's children. They had been conceived and raised partly somewhere else. She had been completely and totally the property of Nergal's, before she was even born. Conceived in a test tube to be, she gagged, a clone of Ruri. Raised to be better than her counterpart. Educated and complete with her entire required studies by the time she was six. Lapis was the TRUE Nergal child, not Inez, not Ruri, and not Hari. Without Nergal, she would have never been born. But she refused to accept that without Ruri, she also would have never been born.

But there was something that seemed to happen almost every time, save for Ruri's case. Once one is made a child of Nergal, they slowly grew into becoming Nergal's pet. Inez had never, ever truly left the company to be on her own. She had been advancing her studies on Mars when the war broke out. Even now she was the top researcher in the building, in the company, still under control of the Nergal fist.

Ruri, surprisingly enough, had been able to escape, but to what? To be the heir of a neutral country, a mockery of a country, just a very large theme park? Lapis scoffed. It was something like that that made her wonder just what Ruri had been thinking. She could have been in this seat at this moment, had she just turned away from her biological family, most of which probably didn't care about her any farther than their need for her to take over at the event of their deaths.

Hari too was not able to escape. From what she understood, he had become a Jump Subject, just like Yurika and Kaguya. One of Nergal's pets, even more so than Inez. Because at least Inez had some authority in the company. Hari was just yet another minion. Lapis wrinkled her nose. How could she have been so closely linked to him, being able to lower herself to his level to be synchronized with him to control the Gardenia?

Lapis shook her digital head, pulling out of the network slowly. She felt her real eyes come back into focus and the electric lights pull out of her eyeballs. She rubbed them slightly, and closed her laptop. If it was one thing she was, other than ten times as good as Ruri, she was Nergal's child. But she wouldn't make the same mistake that Inez and Hari had made. She would never be Nergal's pet. She would take what Nergal had given her: life, power, knowledge, and go as far as she could with it. She would not be held in some castle, the princess of a joke, and she wouldn't be used by the people who created her. She was Lapis Lazuli. She would not be Lapis Lazuli of Nergal when she found herself the same age as Inez, or even Hari.

'But of course,' she thought, with a grim smile as she pulled out a notebook in the shelf in the desk. She had to keep it in there, because anyone else could easily examine the network and find anything. Specifically Hari. And Hari talked far too much.

Underneath Ruri's name on her "list", she added the name "Inez Fressange". She smiled even more broadly, knowing that it may one day lead to both of Nergal's pets' end. Hari was just lucky he didn't piss her off. Though that may one day come up as the struggle for power required some sacrifice.

~*~

"Oh no, you are NOT going to sleep! Do you realize what I gave up to be on TV as a supporter for you? I deserve details on what happened, woman!"

Yurika smiled at the insistence of her roommate, sat up in bed and flicked the switch back on. She blinked a couple of times to get used to the bright light, but Hikaru was still fully-clothed as expected and sitting on her bed with her glasses still on. Yurika folded her hands in her lap, which was covered by the dark blue bedspread. "Okay then, what do you want to know?"

"Well, once you got there, what happened? Did they through you in a cell? Did they pull this Chinese Water Torture device out? Did they pull an Akito-esque interrogation out of their ass?"

"Wait, what? Akito-esque interrogation?"

"Yeah, didn't he ever tell you? They arrested him before they put him on the ship! Trespassing and trying to elude guards or whatever, I guess. Cuffed him, sat him in a chair, shined this light on him and pulled out the DNA database and begged him to be a pilot. He brags about it all the time and stretches it so much until Gai finally tells us what really happened, since it was about five minutes before they met and all. Funny stuff. You should ask for them to play it out for you once in a while."

Yurika smiled and chuckled a bit, feeling her legs twitch. Just to have something to do, she pushed the blankets off of her and started doing butterflies with her legs. "No, that's all right. No, they just sat me in a room with a guy, and he asked me about the stuff, and I answered him, and he asked me about Kusakabe and Aqua, and I told him. Then he said I was free to go and that I wasn't so much of a suspect anymore. That was about it."

"Yeah, they were lying through their teeth." Hikaru looked up to the door to see Ryoko, dressed in her pajamas like Yurika. Hikaru frowned at Ryoko's attire, but said nothing. It was only eleven o'clock at night, after all.

Yurika twisted around to see one of her best friends in the doorway and frowned as well. "They were really nice to me, what makes you think they were lying?"

"Because they wanted you to think that you weren't their main, and only, suspect. What makes you think that they would let you off? This is high profile, Yurika, and you fit all of the evidence collected thus far. They may have told you it all fits and that you're off the hook, but they won't tell the media that. They don't want bad press, and while they may tell you they think you're okay, they really think that you're the perpetrator. Am I off the record with this at all?"

Hikaru pointed her finger straight at Ryoko as Yurika felt herself fall back into the lost state she felt when Rumiko was accusing her of killing Mythos. "Ryoko! How could you say something like that to her?"

"Because it's true, Hikaru! You know it is. They know anyone will believe everything they hear, and if they can get this case done and over with as soon as possible, they will!"

"But she didn't do it at all, that means someone's still on the loose! They can't just turn their back on that, can they?"

"They can if they tell themselves it's really her."

Yurika's eyes hurt. She couldn't cry, but that's all she wanted to do. What Ryoko said made way too much sense. She felt betrayed. "How do you know all of this?" she rasped.

Ryoko crossed her arms and turned, looking ashamed at what she was about to say. "Well, I took Itsuki's offer. To be their security person, like Mr. Hory."

"Really? That's great, Ryoko! But…"

"What does it have to do with anything? I'll tell you, Hikaru. I have to call the cops everyone once in a while to get an asshole out of the building. I know how they work now. And let's just say that they aren't saints. They are human after all, you know? Just… Yurika, don't take everything at face value."

"I thought I grew out of that." Yurika let go of her ankles and pulled her knees up to her chest, hugging them. "I really did."

Ryoko sighed and put a hand up. "Hey, I'm sorry."

"No, it's okay." Yurika gave her a smile, albeit a weak one. Ryoko felt her conflictions and nodded slowly. She glanced up at Hikaru. "Don't pull an all-nighter, okay?"

Hikaru frowned. "Yeah, yeah…"

~*~

Izumi folded her red nightie as she left the laundry room and walked right through the darkened kitchen and foyer, intending on heading straight off to change in her room and go to bed. But there was something that stopped her once she reached the stairs. Though the lights that shone upstairs did not hit his face, it didn't take someone with perfect vision like Izumi to realize that it was Jun. She didn't say anything, but tilted her head, allowing anyone who was looking a glance at the half of her face that was normally covered. Suddenly she heard Ryoko's voice coming from Hikaru's room, just up the stairs. "Don't pull an all-nighter, okay?"

Izumi was quick, and she knew that two and two made four. She sighed, shaking her head as she prepared a final fold in her nightie before walking over to the bottom step where Jun sat, his gaze locked at the floor in front of him. Izumi made sure she never entered his vision and suddenly he found himself being pushed more to the side of the step by Izumi's body. The sudden movement shocked the poor boy, and he almost fell off entirely, had it not been for the railing being in his way. Suddenly panting from the surge of adrenaline in his blood, he glared into the darkness at Izumi. Izumi, knowing he couldn't see them, rolled her crimson eyes and jerked a thumb up the stairs. "You know, you ain't slick."

Jun opened his mouth to respond, but found it covered by Izumi's pale hand. She held up a finger to her lips and glanced up the stairs. Lo and behold, there stood Ryoko, leaning against the railing and listening in. Izumi uncovered Jun's mouth and waved her away. Ryoko wrinkled her nose and stomped away huffily. "Not fair, he listened in on our conversation…"

It was only once Ryoko was inside the room she shared with Itsuki and the door was closed that Jun actually took the liberty to speak. "I can't help it, Izumi. I really can't."

Izumi smiled, shook her head, and held her arms out, allowing her nightie to fall into her lap. "Come here, my obsessed little friend." Jun let himself be hugged, letting his head fall on Izumi's collarbone and his shoulder fall on her breasts. But for some reason, he didn't instantly begin to blush. Maybe he was just too damn tired and needed to get over his jetlag, or maybe… Maybe since Yurika kissed him, he had become desensitized. Was that even possible? Well, he had been the most pure one of them all, and now he seemed to be on the level with Hikaru, if only a little lower, due to his lack of knowledge. Flamma, so much he didn't know.

"Hello, Junny? Where did you go?" Jun felt himself be pulled back into the present. Somehow he had held onto Izumi's arms around him with his hands, but had not moved out of the embrace. He did so now, though, giving Izumi's expression a once over before he covered his eyes. Not his face, but just his eyes, as if he didn't want to see anything. "Why are things so complicated now, Izumi?"

"They just are. Life has this habit of turning into precisely that. Complicated. Though sometimes we can blame some people for that."

"Like Rumiko. And whoever is causing all of the ruckus."

Izumi frowned. "Junny, I don't mean this to be mean, but you must remember," she placed her hands on his cheeks, "we also must never forget to blame ourselves. Shh. I'm not done. We're not perfect. We are human. Don't ever forget that, for if you do, you will most ultimately fail. I speak here from experience, all right."

Jun could tell that she was serious, not pointing fingers or anything. Everyone knew he had killed a man for Yurika. Everyone knew he could do it again. But no one ever blamed him. And that was why these people were his best friends in the world. He nodded slowly, showing that her words had made it through his thick skull.

She smiled and pulled his face down, kissing his forehead. "Stop being so nice some time, and then things might be better." With that, she stood, grabbed her falling nightie, and patted the oldest house resident on the head as she headed up. He frowned, but watched as the hall light upstairs was switched off. He sighed and headed toward the kitchen door so he could go to his own little secluded area.

~*~

TBC…

~*~

A/N: Well, that was that. Kind of longer than usual, but hey, we might be changing the usual here. And I tried to go through this as best as possible, despite the circumstances. Just so you know, I'm better now. And… stuff. And Junny was speaking for me when he said it was getting complicated. You know how strange it is to be juggling so much regarding two people? I normally don't do that. But hey, that's how plot is. So… Review me, please, I'm feeling unloved, and I'd really like to know how you like it. This twist, I mean. But yeah. I think that's it. See you next time.


	23. Inspiration, Connections, and Thoughts f...

A/N: Hey guys, what's up? Well, since I just realized that a couple weeks ago, this story turned a whole year old and it ain't even close to done, I decided to work on it a bit. That, and I want to get stuff going a bit faster now. So, since I also didn't get any questions, comments, or concerns, let's head straight into recap as usual. Rumiko informed the cops that he thinks Yurika is the infamous killer, so she was picked up and questioned. The news jumped on it as per usual, and Yurika was set free quickly with her convincing the police chief with her alibis that she isn't it. Junny and Ryoko went and got her, checked in with Lapis for a second there, and then had a bonding moment between Yurika, Hikaru, and Ryoko, not to mention another between Izumi and Junny. So yeah. That was that. And no, I won't tell you who it is, since I've already got two people in your mind for it. But this time… Furthering relationship plot, looking on the other side of the spectrum, furthering this plot, and future plot, and then checking in on someone we haven't really done in a bit. So, let's get a going! Oh, and Yurika is singing "Alive" by POD. Kind of appropriate I thought for the scene. Tee hee. Funniness. Anyway, go!

~*~

Jun took a deep breath before entering the main house of Yamada Manor. After a few days of careful consideration of his words once Izumi had spoken to him about three days prior. She told him to stop being so nice, and that had randomly given him the idea to stop wondering about his situation with Yurika and to get up and go for it. But, as one can't change in the course of only a few days, he had to work out everything that would happen.

His mind had been fixed on the kiss he received since they arrived and Yurika had been back in the house. What did it mean? Was it supposed to be so… Flamma, Gods above, how was he supposed to understand it!? He shook his head as he pushed into the main hall. That was this conversation was for. Get ready. One, two, three, go. He turned toward the parlor to suddenly realize that Yurika was in there, all right, but she was secluded from the world as she pushed a vacuum around the room, her eyes closed as she sang along with her headphones.

"I feel so alive! For the very first time, I can't deny you! I feel so alive. I feel so alive! For the very first time, and I think I can fly! And now that I know you, I could never turn my back away… And now that I see you, I could never look away… And now that I know you, I could never turn my back away… And now that I see you, I believe no matter what they say! I feel so alive! For the very first time, I can't dee…" As she turned to go in another direction with the vacuum, she noticed that Jun was sort of standing in the doorway, watching her run around the parlor. She smiled uncomfortably as she pulled the headphones off her head and turned the vacuum off. "Was I that entertaining?"

Jun was caught off guard, since this was not part of his prepared, memorized speech. His mind scrambling, he found himself dumbly nodding. His brain finally came up with something to say, however. "Including the head-banging. Quite a nice touch."

Yurika smiled genuinely and pulled a CD player out of her pocket on her jeans. "Yeah, I didn't want to be bored while vacuuming, so I borrowed Hikaru's music to keep me busy. She's got some weird mixes going on in her CD cases. But I guess I can be done now." Jun nodded and watched as Yurika bent down to collect the cord, wrapping around the hooks. He bit his lip, trying to scramble for his speech while trying to not look at Yurika's butt, which seemed to almost be wiggling invitingly at him, on purpose. He swallowed harshly and squeezed his eyes shut." Y-Yurika, I wanted to talk to you about something."

She finished wrapping up the cord and grabbed the handle. "Yeah?" Jun swallowed again. But before he could even make an attempt at speaking, the doorbell rang, just as if he was in a horrible movie. Yurika shrieked in joy and ran past Jun, who promptly smack his forehead with a hand. His life positively sucked right now. But he didn't seem to realize how much more it was going to suck in just a moment.

Yurika checked herself in the mirror next to the door for a moment, wiping away some stray lipstick from her face and running a quick hand through her curled bangs before she opened the door. It didn't take Jun's observation to tell who it was, it was the second shriek that followed. "'TOUSAN!" She cried, jumping up and wrapping her arms around the neck of her father, who had apparently come to visit and Yurika had apparently been expecting.

But Jun had heard nothing of it, so he stood in the doorway of the parlor, his mouth agape. "A-A-Admiral Misumaru???" It certainly threw a wrench in his plans to get some answers from Yurika and possibly even, if he had felt the courage of the moment, that is, ask her out. Yes, that was poor Junny's plans, but how could he even think of doing such, such… INAPPROPRIATE things while Yurika's father, a man he respected greatly, was present? His face began to turn red with embarrassment.

But his embarrassment did not get a break, because just then, the only other present member of the household stepped out of the kitchen, half a cookie in one hand a a soda can in the other. "Aer, what's with the screaming? I could hear you over my blasting in the office. Whoa, Yurika's father… Um, hi… Let me call Brigit, kay?" She zoomed out of the foyer with a speed that seemed rather out of character for someone as lazy as she. Jun only wished that he had Hikaru's speed of that moment, because it felt that his feet were lodged in some sort of mud that was quickly hardening around his light blue slippers.

"Oh, it's been such a long time since I've seen you, Yurika! How have you been?" Yurika let him drop her to the floor, knowing she was rather heavy. "I've been fine, 'Tousan. Even though some people still think I'm a murderer… It's been okay now."

"Well, I suppose we could get some of the details out of the way. I have missed my only daughter for such a long time. Ah! Aoi-san!" Jun wanted to die. He really did. I admired Kouichiro, he really did. But when it came to how Jun felt about his daughter, Jun always wanted to die, even after he give permission for them to marry, which they never did, of course.

Yurika glanced over her shoulder and smiled at Jun. 'Damn you, Yurika, you did this on purpose!' She nodded, her smile growing more evil. He may have only thought it, but Jun was never truly sure when she was in his head or not. He only hoped he could hide his own evil plan, though it was less evil, from her view. She didn't question him about it, so he could only assume she hadn't seen it. Did he have any privacy anymore? Did he even WANT any?

Yurika grasped her father's hand and, just as he was switching shoes, led him into the parlor, purposefully brushing past Jun in a way that made him realize one thing: She MEANT to make him feel as uncomfortable as possible in front of her father. She knew how Jun felt about her father from when the three of them had lived together. 'Maybe this is her way of scaring me off.'

'No, Junny, it's a test. Can you pass?' Jun narrowed his eyes at her, trying to get inside her head as easily as she could get into his. She only raised her eyebrows, smiled once again, and shook her head. 'You figure it out on your own.'

"Yurika, could you please not throw your magic around? It is rather unnerving to say the least." Unnerving, he said. Kouichiro looked like he was about to have a heart attack, a cold sweat beading onto his forehead. It looked as if it freaked him out to the greatest extent, not just "unnerving" him. Obviously she had practiced a bit while she was still staying with her father after the ship landed, but he never got used to it. To think this man had lived on Mars for a great deal of his life.

Yurika giggled. "You came to the wrong place if you didn't want to see magic thrown around. Oh, thanks so much, Brigit." Brigit had just entered and placed a tray with cups and a tea kettle, still breathing steam. She bowed her head slightly to the two residents and began to leave the parlor. Yurika frowned at the tray. "Wait, Brigit, why are there only three cups?"

"Miss Hikaru has informed me that she will not be joining the three of you, Miss Yurika." Yurika shrugged. "I guess. Thanks again!" Brigit smiled softly and continued her path back out of the parlor and back to wherever she had been cleaning or resting before.

"So how long have YOU been staying here, Aoi-san? I know Yurika's only been here since her… unfortunate break-up with Miss Won." Kouichiro seemed to be making any attempts he could at creating conversation. It was surprising that they could feel so uncomfortable when all three used to reside in the same house once Jun had been kicked out of his own house. Was it really only three years ago? Jun shook his head a bit at the thought, feeling the ends of his hair brush against his chin. Things had changed so much in such a short about of time.

"I've been here since we arrived on Earth. You know, off the Nadesico." He was stammering, he knew. But he couldn't stop his voice from fidgeting, or his hands. "I certainly wasn't going to go live with my mother, and my friends offered me a room, so…"

"Even though I told him that you really wouldn't mind him coming and staying with us, right, 'Tousan?" Yurika interrupted. She smiled at her father and he nodded. "No, it wouldn't have been a problem at all. You've been a part of our family ever since you became Yurika's best friend."

Jun propped his chin up with his hand, feeling a bit more comfortable about this situation. "Not that I can hold that position anymore, now, can I?" It was catty, but it wasn't lost on Yurika. She bit her lip, glancing at her father. Jun watched the remaining members of the Misumaru family speaking in the way that Yurika always did when she wanted to keep a conversation silent to surrounding ears. The way Kouichiro twitched every other moment or so gave away that she was talking in his mind. Finally, he nodded. "Go on," he whispered, sitting back on the single chair as Yurika rose the couch, coming over to Jun's own chair and settling herself to sit on the floor next to it, facing the arm as she rested her chin on it.

"Junny, even if I can speak to Ryoko or even Hikaru about the things that are pressing me, you've been for me through thick and thin. Every time I needed someone on the ship to listen to me whine about Akito or take my place to go be selfish or even wear silly costumes while I tried to get a hold of myself, you were always there for me, you know?"

Funny, it was starting to sound a bit familiar. Where had he heard this before? 'Oh yes, when she was telling me that we would never be anything more than friends.' Jun just couldn't seem to turn off the cynicism.

"Quiet you. I'm trying to do something very hard here, and you aren't helping." It took him a moment and a glance at her father for Jun to realize that her words weren't in her mind, but that she had heard what he thought and commented on it out loud. Kouichiro's somewhat shocked face gave it away. Yurika took a deep breath and continued. "But since you've been hanging on to me, it took me way too long to realize that I never wanted to lose you. That I needed you. To protect me or just be there for me, for me to depend on, I didn't know what I needed you for at the moment. But now I do. I just… I want you to stay with me, Jun. Is… Is that okay?"

'Goddess of Fire, it is a test. She's practically asking me out in front of her father. Flamma, please tell me what I'm supposed to do! If I move, Admiral Misumaru will murder me…'

"No, 'Tousan won't kill you. I only… I asked him here to help me. It was always so easy with Akito, but only because I never really felt for him the way I thought I did. And Nagare… Nagare, though I loved him, wasn't going to be serious. I could tell. Eventually we were going to break up. I just did it before he could break my heart. And Erina… Erina was a fling, I admit. That's all. And… I never thought I would be doing this with any of them…" She blushed, pulling her chin off the chair and staring at her lap.

'Gods above, she really is asking me out! She, Yurika, the girl I've chased since freshman year of high school is asking me, the number one loser, OUT! WITH HER FATHER RIGHT HERE!'

"Dammit, Junny! Stop obsessing over the fact that my dad's right there, okay? I needed him for moral support! This is really hard, and you should know!" She grabbed the sides of his head, concentrating hard to keep herself in control, and directed his line of vision to her face. Once she was sure she had his undivided attention, she drew hers back to her lap. "But I'm not asking you out, Junny. Frankly, I think we're both above that. We don't… we don't necessarily need to be together to know how well we work out. I just… I know it. I know what I'm doing. Really. I do. Right?" She glanced back to her father, looking a bit desperate. He nodded, urging her on. She took a deep breath and bit her lip. "I guess what I'm trying to say is that Meg and Rumiko have, maybe… inspired me or something… But…" She slapped a hand to her forehead. "Magus, I'm rambling! Okay, let's get it over with." She threw a small box into Jun's lap and covered her face, which was rapidly turning red.

Jun just stared it for a few moments. It just didn't seem real. Kouichiro's sudden appearance at the manor, Yurika's shameless flirting with him, the kiss at the wedding, the fact that she said they were above "going out"… It fit too well together, and now a small, dark blue box in his lap. He was almost afraid to touch it, but the fact that Yurika was peeking through her fingers forced him to pick it up slowly. He hoped to his Goddess that he wasn't wrong, but he also hoped that it was just some cruel dream, not some cruel reality. Something like this would never really have happened, right? This is just a sick joke, right?

He opened it slowly, cautiously, prepared for the ultimate in disappointment, telling himself that it wasn't real to dull the incoming pain. But it never came. Inside the box was a rather expensive-looking ring. It was silver along the edges, yet the center of the band was gold, with small etchings within it. Closer scrutiny showed that it wasn't as boring as it looked at first glance, with the tiniest little rubies inside the etchings. They were just random designs, but they flowed perfectly, and the sight would have inspired awe to anyone not already in this situation. Jun just stared at it as if it were a live lobster before his already widened-eyes turned to Yurika, the color rising in her face as she slowly uncovered it. Her fists remained balls at her chin, her face a spectacle of terror. "Junny, will you please marry me?" she squeaked as fast as she could, preparing herself for the other ultimate in disappointment.

However, she wasn't treated to what her deeply hidden pessimism expected. Instead, she watched Jun's dark blue eyes roll back into his head as he promptly fainted.

~*~

Hari pulled the large helmet off his head wearily, taking a big breath of fresh, or at least fresher, air. He reached up with a still gloved hand and tried to wipe some of the sweat off his drenched face, only realizing it had saturated his hair as well and that no amount of wiping could relieve him of the sticky feeling. He wrinkled his nose in disgust, causing a burst of laughter to erupt from the headset that was still attached to his ear. It made him smile as he looked up in the window of the control room at Inez, covering her mouth as she laughed.

"Oh my, Hari, you looked exactly like Ruri when you did that!" The name of the girl he idolized made his gut tighten, but as he politely smiled and laughed to make it look like it didn't bother him, it loosened, feeling that his feigned reaction was real enough to calm down.

"Does that mean we can finally be done for today, Miss Fressange?" Hari didn't want to be rude, but the aching in his body said that he had been at it for quite a while. Miss Fressange glanced at her communicator for the time and realized that it had, in fact been a long time. "Good God of Earth, it's been nearly eight hours! Well, since we started that is… I'm surprised you haven't passed out by now or something!"

Hari blushed. He had been Inez's personal Jump subject for couple of months now, but he had no idea how hard it would have been. It really seemed to take a toll on his body. But still, his concentration had become much more refined over time. And it didn't just apply to Jumping. At home, he found sometimes that, while studying, his mother was not able to draw his attention away whatever he was doing unless she physically shook him. While it was nice to know that he couldn't be distracted easily anymore, it kind of worried him if an emergency would ever arise while he was busy.

And even though his concentration had grown substantially, he still didn't seem to be able to Jump around the compound as easily as Yurika or Kaguya had. Inez always reassured him that it was because Yurika and Kaguya were older, and Martian. She said Martians were natural Jumpers, and that it was less fixed when it came to those whose genes had just been rewritten by injected nanomachines, a little more random. That, and it didn't always work.

It didn't make Hari very happy. He liked being good at things. He always had. When he was a bit younger, about six, he had prided himself in being in a grade two more than the one he was supposed to be in. But once he turned seven, he had another thing to be proud of. Nergal had hand-picked him to be trained as a Battleship Computer Operator, one of the most difficult occupation in the computer field, particularly because it required nanomachine treatment. When his parents raised their concerns, Nergal promised to further Hari's education with a private tutor. He had advanced quickly in both arenas, something else he was very good at. And on the Gardenia he was matched by Lapis, who had been training for the same position all her life. He had been able to meet her on the same level. And since he had just recently completed his required schooling and was studying to begin his reach for high school and beyond, he was even more on the same stance as Ruri.

'Oh gosh, is she really what this is about?' As he walked into the shower to relax after the long day's work, he felt himself blush again. He was only nine, although he would be ten soon, but he already knew that he had placed Ruri on his pedestal. He could be as proud of himself as he wanted, but he knew he could never be Ruri. She had been the first, and had set the precedent, something neither he nor Lapis could ever do. And he knew it drove Lapis mad.

He knew Lapis believed that she was the best, and in many respects, she was. After all, Lapis had known nothing else. But Ruri had something that Hari was learning and Lapis would probably never grasp: social interaction. Ruri already knew how to talk to people and become friends with others. Oh, Hari wasn't dumb. He knew that Ruri was exactly like Lapis was before she was on the Nadesico. Half of his training as a Computer Operator had been his tutor telling him how Ruri used to do things. But it didn't fit when he met her. But she had gone through a lot of changes during her time on the ship.

'But Lapis and I were on a battleship too, but I'm still deficient and Lapis still thinks that a social life is a waste of time!' He shook his head at his stupidity. Of course he and Lapis hadn't turned into the same sort of person as Ruri. The Gardenia and the Nadesico were two entirely different ships, with two entirely different crews. The Nadesico was also the first, the revolutionary, and it had been crewed by the best of the best, despite political views, backgrounds, or mentalities. The Gardenia was a small and simple ship created specifically to find the Nadesico, and her crew had all shared Erina's mentality, as she had hand-picked the crew to do so. But because of that, they had to compromise skill. But that was what Nergal had learned after its dealings with the Nadesico's crew.

'Gods, I wish I was on that ship.' The Gardenia may have been his first ship, maybe even his only ship, but he would have given anything to… to Jump back and be an operator on the Nadesico. He shook his head quickly again. It was a horrible thought. He would have changed the unthinkable. He could have made the war continue. He may never have become an operator because of it. If it was one thing that he had learned in his training other than his refined concentration, it was that Jumping back in time could have dire consequences. He pushed it out of his mind.

But if he had been there… it wouldn't stay out. He sighed and allowed the thought to go through his head as he scrubbed it under the cool water. If he had been there, he could have been Ruri's friend instead of Omoikane. He could have become kind like her. He could have learned so much from the crew as well. But most of all, he would be seen as something other than the boy operator…

Ruri was more than a goal for him. She always had been. She had been almost a goddess. A white goddess of electronics and technology, showing that a less natural world is still humane. She… She was everything for him. Everything in his life for the past two years, almost three years, had been because of her. She had changed him and she probably didn't even remember his name.

He may have been only nine-going-on-ten years old, but he knew what the empty feeling in the pit of his stomach meant. He had felt it when the Gardenia had landed and permanently docked. When he went back home after serving on the ship. When Ruri was the last one to leave the ship, the only one that understood that they had to do their job.

Now he felt it because his idol would never recognize him. He was just a little boy to her.

~*~

It was the tale of two comedies. One was almost a romantic comedy, but without the love and twice the heartbreak. The other was pointless and was riddled with special effects to make it appeal to anyone. One would even say it was the story of their lives. But innocent bystanders would only say it was a lover's spat with no purpose at all.

"Hah! Rock break scissors! I win!" Mari gloated, smirking as Saburota's face fell. He frowned at the movie disc box he held; he had really wanted to see this one. It had looked good in the commercials, at least. Mari yanked it out of his hand and placed it back on the shelf. Then she sauntered away to the counter so that she could pay the rental fee for it. Saburota, at the same time, stuck his hands into the pockets of his gray jeans and pouted, scuffing his feet as he walked up to where she was handing the young cashier the amount of money this old classic was worth for three days. Had it not been for his height, those same innocent bystanders would have believed it less a lover's spat and more of a mother spoiling her child and still getting her way.

"I don't even understand why you would want that movie, Mari. I mean, yeah, its funny, but it's sad too."

"That's precisely why I want it. It's a good story. I read the book when I was in high school."

"Great, we're going to watch a movie you read for a grade. Wonderful."

"Oh, shut up. I read it for fun. I wasn't high enough in level to read it for a grade. And it sure beats that nearly naked fantasy flick you almost picked out."

"Hey, that was a satire!"

"Yeah, whatever."

Mari and Saburota, realizing that they needed to go do something, anything together, but were both short on cash, opted to rent a movie to watch at Saburota's apartment. And with only enough money for one, they had to do a round of rock-paper-scissors to see who would win, and Mari obviously won.

But there was still something on Mari's mind as she sat in the passenger's seat of Saburota's car and buckled her seatbelt, reading the back of the disc box. Even though they were a couple now, they never seemed to act like it. Their relationship was much more casual than driven by… whatever it really was that brought people together like that. Sometimes she even wondered if he was really her boyfriend. Did she even really want to say he was her boyfriend? She thought she had hated him. Things certainly did change.

Despite her contemplation, it wasn't until they had already switched shoes at his apartment that she brought it up at all. "Saburota?"

"Yeah? What? Hey, do you want me to cook up some pizza or popcorn or something? And there's drinks in the fridge, but you knew that…" He stepped into the kitchen and opened his refrigerator, looking into it.

"What are we?"

"Huh?" Mari's own question confused him and he stuck his head out of the kitchen and into the doorway where Mari continued to stand. "If this is about whether you can come in or not, make yourself at home. I mean, I do at your house all the time, so I don't see anything wrong with it… What did you ask?"

"I asked what we are. Are we a couple, like boyfriend and girlfriend? Are we just dating? Or are we friends with benefits?"

Saburota looked as if he was actually thinking about it for a bit, then shrugged, disappearing back into his kitchen. "I guess whatever you want, Mari. I don't particularly care."

That threw Mari for a loop. She was expecting him to actually have an answer, not leave it up to her. She stepped deeper into his apartment cautiously, her right eyebrow rising above the level where her left sat. Saburota didn't really look at her as she leaned against the white counter that separated the kitchen from the living room and dining area. Instead, he opened up a couple of beers and pushed a bottle to her as he leaned on the other side, sipping on his. She ran her fingers up and down the length of the bottle before she slowly became angry with his near-cop-out.

"What do you mean, whatever I want? You don't care? I thought that this really meant something to you! I mean… It meant something to me and I just thought…" She trailed off, not really knowing what she wanted to say. 'I want to you feel like I do about this. But that's so horrid for me to say.'

"See, you just thought, and I've done some thinking too. I heard what you and Meg were talking about at her wedding party, how you're jealous of her. Because obviously she's in a much better situation than you being married to the frickin' ruler of Ninlan and being one of these most famous voice actresses and everything. Terra, I'm not even going to get in this with you."

"Wait, you eavesdropped on us? You didn't even hear the whole thing, did you?"

"I don't need to. I thought I was being good to you Mari. But since I'm just someone to you, you're in a world of pain because you're twenty-one and not married, not with someone with governmental power, and you keep saying you can't act worth crap. I'm sick of you trying to create drama, Mari. You're a great actress, and I'm still a good friend of yours no matter what, and I don't run a planet. Get over it. So I'm sick of you trying to make a mountain over a molehill."

Mari's jaw had long-since dropped for the more attractive, yet unreachable ground. Mari had no clue that Saburota had such strong feelings to her… Was she really making such a big deal out of everything? Wait, what was he doing then? Making a gigantic thing out of a habit of hers? "You… You hypocrite!"

"Excuse me?"

"What are you doing now, huh? Now who's the drama queen? Certainly isn't me!"

"Oh Terra, here we go…"

"Don't give me that! How long as this been a problem, a few days?"

"No, you do this all the time. 'Oh, I'll never be as good as Megumi was as an actress.' I never stop hearing it from you. I bet you would rather have Rumiko than me, too, huh?"

"I never said that!"

"Well, obviously I'm not good enough, am I?"

"God, stop it, Saburota!" Mari began to sob now, pushing her hands into her brown hair until they reached the blue bandana she had used to keep her hair away from her face. She couldn't make herself say anything, her crying was so bad. She was just so angry, so hurt that he would say such horrible things about her.

'And they're true too… I'm so horrible.' At that thought, she covered her face embarrassedly. And now she was making a big deal out of that. 'So what if I'm a drama queen. It… It would help if he was sympathetic once in a while.'

As if he was Yurika and able to read minds, she felt his arms around her stomach, his chest pressed against her back. With a whispered "I'm sorry" in her ear and a kiss to her head, she spun and buried her face into his gray shirt.

"No, you're right, all right. God, I'm so pathetic." Mari felt a twitch in Saburota's arms and winced, realizing that she was doing it again. She shook her head, not wanting to say that she was sorry, because it would just reinforce his point more. Instead, she forced herself to smile and nodded, pulling her head away from his shoulder so she could see him. "I'll… I'll try to take things in stride now. Have fun with life. That's… all right, right?"

"Hey as long as you don't have too much fun." Mari snorted a laugh out her nose. "This coming from you? You serious?"

"Heck no."

"Good. Because I intend for you to teach me the power of playful aloofness."

"Oh man. When did I get recruited for this dirty task?"

"When you became my boyfriend."

~*~

"So have you talked to her since it happened?"

Megumi had always mentioned the day as "when it happened". She didn't call the day her "wedding day", or "the happiest day of her life" or any of what people normally called the day they got married to someone they loved, but it was the day "it happened". Minato could tell that it was horrifying to remember, and she probably always would.

"Oh honey… No, I haven't, but word around work is that they believe she's innocent and that she practically begged Jun to marry her."

"Oh, that's great! Doubly great! Did he tell her yes yet?" Megumi's face did a one-eighty from apathetic and somewhat sad to excited and happy. It made Minato smile.

Minato had used her communicator to contact Megumi, particularly because she was worried about her best friend. She hadn't tried to make any contact with Earth since it had happened. But Minato understood that it was a hard thing to push out of mind. Particularly because it was a dreadful crime, not to mention the setting of said crime.

"Well, how they told me was that Yurika's father came to visit for moral support and that Yurika had been planning to do it that day, and then when she asked Jun he sort of passed out."

"Oh, how sad!"

"Yeah, but I heard she's walking on pins and needles around him until he answers her, and that he's been demanding a lot of time on his own beforehand."

"I wish I had done that before my instant answer."

"Oh! But I thought that you two had been practically married before he asked you?"

"You obviously have never been married, Minato. It's this brand new mentality… Even if you had been living together before. You suddenly realize, 'I can't just walk out that door anymore.' It's scary, I'm telling you."

"You sound like you're started to regret it."

"Well… I wouldn't say regret, just... It's come too hard, too fast, and in the wrong time and place for all of it." Megumi looked down, then away toward one of the gray stone walls of their kitchen. "I mean… Most couples don't come to their first big hardship for a couple of years, and it's only been a week. Hell, it didn't even make it a few hours before… it happened."

Minato nodded slowly, wishing there was much less than millions of kilometers between them. Megumi had taken it hard.

"I just wish he wouldn't make me choose!" That got Minato's attention. "Choose?"

"Yes. Between him and Yurika. Oh Gods Above, It's horrible, Minato! I love Rumiko to death, I really do. I can't even imagine living without him! But… I suppose my loyalty to the Nadesico runs deep and always will."

"All of ours will."

"You and I both know that Yurika would have never done that. It was just… too cruel. Sure, she had fought in the war with the rest of us, but that was her job. I just… I think Ninlan itself doesn't understand war. Rumiko swears that there isn't any difference. That it is all killing people. But war isn't about killing people just because, it's for a cause! It's fighting for your life, your pride, your ideals… all of that, not just random killing!"

Minato was silent as Megumi ranted. It was all of that, it was true; but there was something wrong with it. Something that she was sure that both Rumiko and Megumi probably hadn't seen. "But maybe it WASN'T a random killing."

"Huh?" Megumi's old American accent came back into play, her voice squeaking a bit at the end of the shocked syllable. Minato winced, but let it go on account of exactly that, shock. Even she was beginning to wonder what she had meant.

"I've been watching the news on this like a hawk. He's part of a string, you know; A string of three. Kusakabe Haruki, Aqua Crimson, and Mythos Entrada. I'm sure you already know that they're all prominent figures in our society, but… They're all from different places with different agendas."

"… I'm sorry, I don't follow."

"See, Kusakabe was from Jupiter. Jupiter wanted to hold their ideals over Earth during the Lizard War based solely on their need for revenge over an event that took place one hundred years ago. Aqua was from Earth, and corporate Earth. Earth is trying to do the same thing as Jupiter, only with Ninlan. Not only that, but Aqua was head of a monopolistic company, The Crimson Group, the only producers of Distortion Field Generators."

"Until Ninlan."

"Exactly."

"And Mythos was the old Emperor of Ninlan and Rumiko's most experienced advisor!"

"Not to mention that Ninlan is not only trying to get a place in the System Union, but also into the business world."

"By the Gods! It all fits, Minato! It all fits!"

"Not exactly, though. The problem is, there are only three sides. Why attack all three? And who on what side would do such a thing?"

Megumi fell silent. There was no answer. All the pieces fit together, but the problem was trying to pinpoint, out of trillions of people, one who would sabotage their own nation to cover their tracks, and try to start attacks on other nations. Is that even why they would sabotage their own nation?

"Minato… Do you think someone is trying to start a war?"

"I hope not."

~*~

Because she had accidentally slept in, Minato had been late for work. She was just lucky that Yukina had pulled herself out of bed and out the door to school on time. But now Minato pushed open the door with far too much force than should have been allowed. But, of course, she was still running on pure adrenaline, having not had time to stop by Peaceful Days for her morning coffee. Not even bothering with the elevator, she rushed up the stairs, almost breaking her black heels as she reached the door to the experimentation hangar, where she knew that her two employers and her fellow employee would be today. She pushed it open roughly, and stood panting at the door, catching her breath after rushing around since she had woken up at eight that morning, when she was supposed to report in.

Itsuki was the first to notice her, and she smiled, walking straight over to the entrance. Gai had been second, but he stayed put, watching his near-sister saunter over to where Minato nearly collapsed into a heap on the floor. Itsuki pinched Minato's cheek and grinned. "Aw, did we stay up too late last night, Minato-san?"

"I'm afraid so… I was talking to Meg." Itsuki's grin faded and she nodded slowly. Before the mood of the room could drop several levels, she glanced over Minato's appearance. Minato had dressed herself quickly, yet efficiently, a blue skirt suit with a black shirt and shoes. She hadn't seemed to have applied much make-up save for her constant pink lipstick. In fact, she looked rather normal. But what Itsuki frowned upon inspecting Minato was the older woman's hair.

"Magus, what on Earth happened to your hair? Come here, Minato, I'm going to fix it for you." So Itsuki grabbed her dark blue sleeve and dragged Minato to in front of a large toolbox, where Itsuki sudden sat upon and pulled a hairbrush out of a pocket in her turquoise dress. Just as Itsuki had untied Minato's messy bun, Uribatake and Gai coughed in unison, eliciting a glare from Itsuki. It was obvious that they had planned that specific little gesture out to the detail.

A crack of laughter sounded through the hangar and a communications window popped up between where the girls sat and the boys stood. It showed Ryoko's face, but it almost looked as if she was inside an Aestivalis. "Man, Itsuki, sometimes…"

"Oh, just shut up, Ryoko." Minato's eyebrows attempted to kiss. So it was Ryoko, but where on Earth was she?

"Yeah, yeah… Hey, is it okay for me to walk now?"

Gai glanced at his watch. "I don't know, have you synced with it yet?"

"As much as I'm going to. This guy doesn't have the right feel like my old baby, but it's fine."

"That's only because it's a prototype. It would have cost much more money and such if we customized it for you. Imagine if it didn't work, Ryoko. Now get out here."

"Itsuki, she may just make the thing blow up."

"Will you get off your worried case, Jiro! It's not going to blow up!"

"You're damn right it's not! I never would have let her in it if I thought it would explode, Yamada. Kazamo would have had my head if I killed her sex toy."

"Watch your words, Old Man, or I'll be trying these new cannons out on your ass!"

It took a few more moments that usual, but the gray machine did walk it's way into the larger part of the hangar bay. It was an Aestivalis, but there was something different about it. Apart from obviously having Ryoko inside it and it not being red, that is.

"Are those the new cannons under the arms?" There were two large guns underneath the forearms, one on each side. They looked appeared to have only one purpose: to fire multiple large missiles. Also, the feet seemed to be less defined, and it appeared to be equipped with all the usual weapons as well. All in all, it appeared to be very awkward and like it could pack a punch, but not move much at all. But Minato was no pilot, so she didn't think it really matter what she could derive from the look of the machine.

Itsuki finished with Minato's hair and patted her on the head. "Good secretary," she said as she hopped off the tool box and pushed some buttons on her communicator. Quickly Ryoko's face reappeared again, just for her. "So how is it?"

"Not the greatest." The Aesti glanced at its arms and it swung them about, as if stretching them. "The arms are a bit more bulky than I had imagined, which could be a problem."

"And how is that a problem?"

"Uribatake no baka! Ryoko's fighting style is hand-to-hand!" Itsuki shouted. Then she turned back to Ryoko. "What else?"

"It's totally top-heavy. Who designed these feet?" With that, Gai smacked Uribatake on the back of the head. "Yeah, what is up with the feet, for the fourth time I'm asking?"

"All the movement power went into thrusters! You're the one that said, 'More flying! More flying!'"

"Well, it's not good, I'll tell you that. And I understand that these things on the arms are the new guys… but do they have to be so damn big?"

"Well, Ryoko, the missiles are kind of big. They're supposed to be able to penetrate distortion fields and then let what's in it go. Not to mention that they fill them up."

Minato glanced at the large cannons that Ryoko's Aestivalis was feeling, wondering how they could be smaller. Then she noticed that it had one of Uribatake's lances strapped to the side. The end of it was rather small…

"Could you just fit some smaller missiles with ends like that thing?" Minato suggested, pointing at it. Itsuki glanced it over, then walked over to Uribatake. "Could we do that?"

"Well, I supposed, but it wouldn't be as easy. We'd have to make it so that the front part of the missile still exploded first, but not setting off the back part. Otherwise, the insides wouldn't get out."

"Maybe…" contemplated Gai, "If we make it get rid of just the front of the back part. You know, like the layer separating them both? Then the insides spill out, does their damage, and the other part explodes. I mean… does it really need to hit the robot?"

"Well, I would assume it would need to in space… Right, Uribatake?"

"Possibly, but that may not be true. It's something to consider, though." Itsuki nodded and gave a thumbs-up to Minato who nodded. "Just doing my job of keeping up to date."

"Yeah, okay, but what am I supposed to do? Call it quits or take this baby out for a real spin?" asked Ryoko, popping up in a huge communications window again.

The four people outside the robot looked at each other and shrugged. Gai waved her off. "If you want to go try her out, go ahead. I'd like to see how the filling works as of now, anyway, especially if we're going to redesign the entire missiles themselves. Gotta make sure something works."

Ryoko nodded and her window disappeared. Itsuki shouted to Minato, "Minato, be a dear and push the big red button so Ryoko can go play outside." Minato quickly obliged. All in a days' work.

~*~

Genichiro didn't even get into the ticket line for the Jump shuttle. He just walked right through. After all, he had only been in the same station in Kawasaki a mere two hours prior. The fact that he had raised a ruckus at the Ninlan station in Carmina about how he was a Jumper and therefore required certain treatment in regards to the shuttles had a great deal to do with it. The other part was that he was so very obviously Jupiterian.

One thing that had come once Jupiter and Earth had put away their differences once and for all with the signing of the Treaty of Mars was the Great Migration. Similar to when Ninlan had made contact with Earth, Earthlings and Jupiterians traveled to each other's nations and adopted many aspects of their cultures. But it had appeared, overall, that most Jupiterians cast away their Gekiganger-based ideals and appearances and traded them for the more diverse concepts of Earth as opposed to Earthling taking up much of their culture. It had become obvious that anyone that appeared to have grown up on Jupiter and was also a Jumper was most likely actually from Jupiter, not just an Earthling that had toured there once.

At least, this was what Genichiro told himself as he stepped onto the shuttle and headed straight back to the accommodations for those that helped Jump the shuttle to wherever it was going. He didn't want to think that it was because he had been exiled from his own nation, that everyone knew that he was the murderer of the man who could have brought instant peace during the Lizard War. But as this train of thought entered his head, he realized that it had been true. He shook his head and sat in one of the reclining seats, watching as some others entered. They weren't anyone he knew, and the way that they glanced about the shuttle excitedly, he could instantly tell that they were some back-water country mages who had just traveled to Earth for one reason or another. He pushed them out of his mind as he waited for the shuttle to fill up.

Ever since Yukina had told him at Emperor and Empress Adagio's wedding that she would not mind never seeing him again, he had gone out of his way to do so. He took up residence at the ecclesiastical Palace as the emperor's personal investigator when it came to the murder of the previous emperor, Mythos Entrada. It was no problem to either the Emperor or the Empress. It was he, after all, that had been switching radio channels while living on Earth and suddenly caught a hold of a communications window from a woman he didn't know at first. It had taken him a few moments to recognize her as Megumi Reinard, voice actress and Communications Officer on the Nadesico. He had set Ninlan up to speak with the UE, and therefore had become their confidante quickly. That was the only reason he was on Earth now after all. Just to receive what the Kawasaki police had gathered in their questioning of Yurika.

Even though he had not been in Jupiter's space for any extended amount of time since the Treaty of Mars, Genichiro could not help but still see the Earth as a rather horrid place. It still bothered him to know that his ancestors, those that had fled from the moon and Mars, had evolved into what they are today on Earth. But it did pride him to know that Jupiterians were more closely related to Martians than Earthlings, as it were.

But Genichiro could not bring himself to think of Jupiter kindly, either. Jupiter had betrayed him, and he Jupiter. Ever since they had taught him to be so… so RIDDLED with bigotry towards Earthlings… He didn't want to hate them, but he had no choice. It was what he had learned. Damn Jupiter! Ever since Kusakabe had taken advantage of his anger with Tsukumo…

It was the only thing Genichiro could congratulate whoever was causing these murders for. The death of Kusakabe. The painful, slow death of the devil who had taken what Jupiter had turned Genichiro into and used it. Used him! Genichiro punched the back of the chair in front of him. Some of the others in the Jumper wing jumped in their seats, startled by Genichiro's instant and seemingly-unprovoked anger. But they slowly relaxed again as the voice came over the intercom.

"This shuttle's destination is Carmina, the capitol of Ninlan. Will all accompanying Jumpers fasten their seatbelts and focus on the images being projected now? Thank you and enjoy your trip!"

The lights dimmed and the image of the Carmina station, as it was nowadays, with all of Ninlan's technological changes. Genichiro didn't even look at it. He knew what it looked like. He closed his eyes to block out the different colored lights in the room, including his already growing red light.

Without a place on Earth or Jupiter, Ninlan was his home now, as it was for many others in the system. It was a place where he could start over, finally. It was all her wanted to do anymore, was to try to get over his ultimate sin and become a better man. To have a more fulfilling life without having to remorse every time he looked around. He wouldn't have to see Yukina's face, Minato's face, or even have Tsukumo's be suddenly projected into his mind with any reminder of the Lizard War.

Now all he had to do was push his ultimate manipulator's face out. It would probably be a while, a long while. It may even take him all his life. But it was a relief to know that the asshole was dead and cold in his grave, the only thing that made him happy in relation to the incident.

~*~

TBC…

~*~

A/N: So yeah! SQUEENEES and all! Ain't it awesome! So, was that a bit too confusing for you? Good. It should be. ^^ I know what's going on! I know what I'm doing! REALLY! Anyway, so I'm sure you're begging for me to do something else, right? WRONG! You can wait until I have time again, which is not now! AHAHAHA! Whoa, I feel really kind of crazy now. Oh well. So. I guess it isn't so complicated for some reason now… Anyway. Any predictions? Questions? Concerns you had with how I did this? Make me feel loved folks, please? It might actually inspire me to not just sit on my butt. ^^ Oh, you know I'll do it anyway, even if you don't. ^^ So, I guess I'll see you guys next time. Maybe I'll even be nice and make Jun give the ever-lovely Yurika an answer. Ain't she and I evil! Anyway, later folks! Hugs!


	24. Based mostly in Yamada Manor

A/N: How are you, nonexistent people? ^^ Yeah, I guess I'm just getting used to the fact that no one reads this anymore, or they won't actually do so until it is finished or something. Must have gotten too long or something. Well, after this chapter is finished, this one will be, chapter-wise, long than LnDHnS, though it has been longer word-wise for a long time now. But anyway, that's not the point. The point is that I am here again, without procrastinating on schoolwork, and with more of this story to tell. But first, we'll do recap a little differently. A little more… backwards. ^^ Okay, so, last time, in the drama we call IyM, we got to check in with Genichiro without going through either Yukina or Minato! It certainly was nice to finally get into his head for like, the first time since TDoNtD… Anyway, the Mugendai Few worked a little bit more on their secret Aesti project with Ryoko as a test-pilot, Minato and Megumi speculated on the plot a bit, and Saburota and Mari had a little touchy-sweet moment. But most important of all, I think, for the time being was the fact that Yurika invited her father over for moral support. And that this had nothing to do with the fact that she was accused of murder, but more with the fact that she was, right then and there, asking Junny to marry her. ^^ But the boy didn't give her an answer! Rawr! And that's why we went backwards, to refresh your memory on that incident, because that's what we're opening up to. And this time, keep your eyes open for future stuff, random plot-lines that pop up out of the ground like the grass is now, and the usual character development. Well, let's'a go!

~*~

Peaceful Days, especially in the morning, was not always so peaceful. The sheer amount of morning commuters heading toward the train station or the bus stop that stopped in for a pastry or some coffee or both was enough to keep the entire staff of the restaurant busy: both men and all seven women. But this was how it usually was on weekday rushes. On Saturdays, it was a bit slower, with only a few dedicated patrons stopping in for their favorite breakfasts. And on this specific Saturday, there were exactly two customers in the restaurant, much, much less than the work-week rush. So, in this moment of lull before everyone that had stayed out late the night before crawled out of bed for the afternoon and their search for quick and good food, How Mei suddenly found herself ordering her small army around to clean both the kitchens and sitting area.

"This is so boring, How Mei-san!" whined Eri, pushing a mop around the room and succeeding in making the floor extremely wet. Junko followed her, trying to clear up the mess with a squeegee and a towel.

"Well, just remember that it could be worse, Eri," muses Gareiru, counting out the money in the register and making note of it in the balance book, glancing at his watch at the same time. "It could be a Monday."

"Ah, Mondays are the worst!" cried Harumi, cleaning some of the unoccupied tables. Izumi just shook her head, snickering to herself. As almost strictly Gareiru's waitress, she had little to do, and had opted to take a break and watch the girls clean up the seating area to make the jealous. She would have had Akito yelling at her or even directing some of the girls around and getting beaten on by Sayuri, but he had been recruited to washing dishes in the back kitchen.

Sayuri, in particular, set another stack of plates and other dishes on the front counter for How Mei to carry to back to Akito. She had been replacing the ingredients for the lunch crowd, which was to be arriving shortly. How Mei was paranoid and anal when it came to her spices and ingredients. She wanted to know where everything was, and also have the most used stuff properly stocked and kept within reach. Gareiru just attributed this to all her time in the UEAF as a battleship chef. But Izumi had quickly discovered that when she meant the most used ingredients, she meant them. Despite the fact that she had to work strictly in the coffee shop wing, Izumi had taken it upon herself to keep records of all the ingredients of each offered dish and any new orders that may come up, which dishes were the most popular, and how long it took for their reserves to run dry. Needless to say, Peaceful Days had been running much more efficiently since Izumi had been there to work at the coffee shop and provide entertainment and since the girls had been there to wait tables and help cook when it got busy.

In any case, Sayuri wiped her forehead with a bare arm. They were allowed to wear whatever they wanted, just the apron on the outside with the small logo of the restaurant on it. "It would be better if we had something to keep our minds off the work, at least."

Mikako, who had been washing the outside windows and had just come it to put her cleaning agents away, grinned. "That's a perfect idea, Sayuri-chan!" Mikako gave her an awkward hug on the way over. "We can do something to keep our minds off it, like sing!"

"Yeah!"

"No!" shouted Akito, from the back. "That'll be the fifth time this week you guys start singing! And it's always that song you sang at the talent show, or that Christmas song. And it's almost June, not December! Do something else, for the love of Aqua!"

It was his shout that silenced the restaurant, then corroded it with giggles from staff and sparse customers alike. Everyone knew how easily annoyed Akito was. After all, the Nadesico crew had suspected that's what had really separated Yurika and Akito, especially after they had seen how much she pissed him off all the time. Mikako clapped her hands together and nodded. "But he's right guys, we need some new songs."

"But we're not equipped to right new songs, Mikako-chan," complained Junko, flipping some of her hair behind her shoulder as she stretched her arms out. Mikako watched her until her face screwed up into a sadistic smile. "Well, then, Junko-chan, why don't YOU sing for US?"

"Uh??" was all that Junko could get out before the other girls nodded and cheered in approval, nearly pushing her up to the small little stage that had quickly become part of Izumi's home.

"Come on, Junko, you're the best singer out of all of us!"

"Yeah, and you write all the songs and music!"

"Go ahead, Junko, give Itsuki a run for her money! I'll even play guitar for you!" This last one had come out of Izumi, who glanced around in the back for her guitar case. Akito quickly came out of the kitchen to the counter. "Izumi, Itsuki's like my sister-in-law. I'm telling on you."

"Yeah, you can bite me, Akito." Izumi pulled her blue guitar out of the case and sat herself on a stool at the counter. She set herself up so that she could easily play whatever Junko started to sing, and watched the cook on the stage, waiting for a cue or a song title to start playing.

Junko bit her lip and glanced around. It wasn't just her best friends sitting down and watching her. The loitering customers were as well, along with Akito, How Mei, Gareiru, and of course Izumi. Not to mention those that were beginning to file in for their lunch. She hadn't been in front of a crowd and asked to perform by herself. One-on-one with their agent, yes, but not a crowd, not even a small one such as this. But she knew that there was no not-embarrassing way out of this.

She loved cooking. She really did. She loved her friends, who had quickly become her best friends the second she joined the crew of the Nadesico. And she loved How Mei. Those were the reasons she still was in the culinary business. But she had had a second love, everyone knew it. It was she that suggested that they, the self-proclaimed How Mei Girls, compete together in the talent show. She was the one that had written their Christmas song. She loved cooking, yes; but she had also loved singing and music. She was never as good as Itsuki, and she knew that Izumi had just been teasing. But she set her mouth into a firm line. But Itsuki had been to a music school, and that was her source of magic. She could do this without magical help, unlike Itsuki. She had nothing against Jumpers, but she decided that she had just been rambling to make herself feel better than horrible. She still had her stage fright to deal with, after all.

She decided to sing the song she had written while on the Nadesico that just about everyone had learned, but never knew who wrote it. It had almost become their theme song, and both Uribatake and Yurika had come up with their own versions of it. Junko looked Izumi in her visible eye and mouthed four words. Izumi nodded instantly and played a quick, upbeat rhythm, playing up to Junko's cue.

At the exact moment, Junko closed her dark blue eyes and began to sing with a somewhat seductive voice that none of them had suspected from the cook. "The stone I kicked after I could no longer hold back my anguish… It might turn into a diamond when it bounces back. A dream that can be obtained easily is no dream… But I will always have faith in being able to fulfill it."

She raised her arms up, almost as if she was singing to the heavens with her eyes still closed. "I love you… as you never let anything get you down… There are times when I want to cry… I'll always and always be there!" She took a deep breath and prepared to sing the chorus, but she was interrupted.

"You get to burning!" sang another voice, sounding somewhat like a sickened hamster. Junko stopped mid-syllable and croaked out "you…" before she stopped and opened her eyes. At the door of the restaurant stood Yurika, her own eyes closed and pointing her finger towards the stage. "Be yourself, be proud, and face them head on! The days you spent running after your dreams… They make up parts of your dreams!"

Junko felt a surge of energy rush through her. She always did when she felt when someone else sang her song and when someone sang with her. She kept her eyes open as she joined Yurika for the last chorus. "You get to burning! Gather those pieces and look to tomorrow! Courage will come into view, to be… Going your day's, grow up!" Together Yurika, Junko, and Izumi ended, cueing an elaborate applause from the lunch crowd that had gathered.

Junko blushed immediately and stepped off the stage and was immediately bombarded with cheers, hugs, and giggles from her friends. Mikako, Harumi, and Eri began talking at top speed, while Sayuri just nodded and smiled in approval. She glanced over to Yurika, who grinned at her and gave her a thumbs-up. Junko reflected the gesture, but let her attention be dragged away by her ecstatic friends, though she was very happy at the instant approval of the more calm of them, Sayuri. But it didn't last long, after all, though the show was free, the people had showed up to buy food and coffee and they quickly found themselves quite busy.

Akito found himself running the restaurant's register as How Mei and a couple of the girls started working on the orders. Yurika sauntered up to the counter and leaned on it, glancing around her at the large amounts of people in the somewhat small facility. "Wow, is it really this busy in here everyday?"

"Yeah, just earlier. These guys sleep in on Saturdays but are up and in here bright and early on weekdays. Nice squeaking you had going there."

"Yeah, I've known that song since I got on the ship. It traveled around fast, and she looked nervous from outside, so I figured I'd help."

"Ever the walking charity?"

"You bet. Making people feel better about themselves by making fun of myself. It's my life's work."

"Someone sounds negative."

"Well, you'd be too."

"Aqua, Yurika, it's been only five days. It's a big decision."

Gareiru, handling the cash register in the coffee shop section as Izumi put her guitar away and started on mixing the coffee, shouted to his wife. "Hey, How Mei, I need one of your girls over here! Two people and orders will be messed up when it comes to my stuff, you know that!"

"Gareiru, I can't spare a one. Maybe if you can run both cash machines I can send Akito, but…"

"Dammit, I know we should have just combined them!"

"I can help!" shouted Yurika, pumping a fist into the air. She walked over to the coffee counter and hit both fists on the counter. "What do I do?"

Gareiru looked at bit worried at first, then glanced around at how busy it was and conceded with a sigh. "Okay, can you mix coffee?"

"I wouldn't trust her with that for my own coffee. No offense, Yurika." Yurika shook her head. It didn't take a brave man to tell her that she was a horrible cook. Gareiru sighed again, looking about as if to remind him why he was trying to contemplate something for this volunteer to do. "Well, can you take quick orders?"

Yurika nearly sparkled. "You bet I can!" Gareiru sighed once again, only this time in relief. "All right, I'll help Izumi, and you can run the cash machine –what's your name?"

"Yurika."

"Yurika. Interesting name. Anyway, you do that. Thanks for your help." He turned away from the cash register and started to help Izumi with her build-up of cups with their orders written on them. Yurika glanced over a cup, realizing that they were supposed to write the orders on the cup and took her first order. "All right, what can I get you?"

"I want a Decaf Chocolate Chip ice coffee with extra whipped cream." Figuring out the cup code was easy enough, but the buttons on the cash register were all out of whack. It took Yurika a few seconds to discover how to do this. "All right, that's four-hundred-fifty yen, please." The man handed over his money quickly and Yurika made change just as quickly. It took a second for her to realize that they wait then, not her, she took her next order. It flowed much better. This was becoming easier!

Akito had been watching Yurika's progress and was impressed. Perhaps Jun really was right that one time they working in Saizo-san's restaurant, maybe she really was a genus –Jun. Of course. Once he was sure she could handle outside conversation, he shouted over the noise. "So that's what this is about, is it, Yurika?"

"I don't know what you're talking about, Akito. One shot, you said?"

"You're feeling like crap since Junny hasn't given you an answer yet?"

"Who said that's what this was about? Five-hundred-forty yen, please."

"You haven't ever come to Peaceful Days before, Yurika. Oh, thank you very much!"

"So maybe I was ready for a little change."

"That's what led to you asking him, yeah, but why this?"

"Akito, why do you always have to get into my business?"

"I would have to ask the same, Missy!"

"Hey, hey, HEY!" shouted How Mei from the kitchen. "Less fighting, more working. Akito, if you have time to fight, you have time to cook. I'll take register if you can't play nicely with the other children."

"Sorry ma'am," his grumbled, resembling his more teenaged self very much. Yurika glared at him for a moment, then turned away with a snort. "All right, and what will you have?"

It was only after the lunch rush that Yurika and Akito got to talk about it while not shouting across the room. Yurika poked at her meal with her chopsticks. It wasn't as if any of them were bad cooks; she already knew from their times on the ship that they were all exactly what the Nadesico required: the best of the best. But it had been, once again, Akito's words that had made her lose her appetite. Despite the fact that she knew very well that he was also a very talented cook, though he wasn't exactly the best in the field, she always found that she just couldn't stomach most of the things he said. It was amazing what she realized about their relationship once she wasn't chasing him around and shouting that she loved him. She actually had started to hate him greatly after such an analysis, but now she realized that she really shouldn't harbor such strong emotions for someone she didn't care as much about. 'After all, hate could be just a strong and passionate as love, just less desirable to waste time on.' But she shook her head. What he had said had made sense. But she didn't get a chance to dwell on it as much as the man in her thoughts suddenly scooted across from her in the booth she was sitting in.

"Hey." He leaned with his back to the window and pulled the handkerchief he used to tie his hair out of his way from his head, closing his eyes and sighing, as if a great burden had been slid from his shoulders. He reached up and rubbed his forehead. "Good God of Water, I hate rush." He tilted his head onto his shoulder with his eyes still closed, as if he was taking a nap. But he then opened his eyes watching Yurika watch him. She absolutely hated it, but he somehow looked utterly desirable at that exact moment. Her logical side of her brain began to scream at the sinful emotions and thoughts that had suddenly risen in her and she growled stabbing at her food. That was probably only one of the few reason she snapped at Akito after he spoke just then, reminding her that it was that bastard, Akito.

"So, I was right, wasn't I?"

"Magus, Akito! You just never let up, do you?!"

Akito jumped back a bit, sitting up a bit more after cracking his neck. He leaned his elbows onto the table. "I'm not trying to pick a fight with you, Yurika! Aqua, a guy tries to figure out what's going on and then his head gets bitten off. Shit!" He looked out the window he was leaning up against moments before and watched the cars and shoppers go by. Despite everything, he still cared for Yurika. Even if it had nothing to do with love, he still felt very close to her. Whether it had been their short relationship or if it had been their time on Mars together, but he wanted to still be friends with her, even as much as he told himself that he hated that whore. He just… he didn't want it to become this huge, official thing like she wanted, obviously.

Yurika slowly pushed her plate away. Now it wasn't so much what Akito said that made her not want to eat, but the whole situation itself. It had been nearly a week since she had asked Jun to marry her and his prompt answer of passing out. Once he had come to, he had been able to tell her that he would have to think it over, to which she said it was okay; a decision she was beginning to regret. "Well… you're right, I suppose. I'm here because of the thing with Junny."

"Hah! Bingo. I knew it."

"It's just… it's been almost a week, you know? When Rumiko asked Meg, he almost got an immediate answer."

"Oh, is that it? Well, come on, Yurika, give Jun a break. It's a big decision. Rumiko and Meg… They had been together, living together, for almost a year. You know, they were almost like a married couple before they had even thought of signing the papers, remember?"

"But… I've known Jun since high school!"

"Rumiko and Meg have also been dreaming about each other almost all their lives. They're the closest thing to 'soul mates' as I've ever seen, and if they really exist, that would be them. You and Jun have issues to work out first, you know?"

Yurika looked away. Everything he was saying was right, but at the same time, it wasn't. There wasn't an excuse for Jun's tardiness with an answer, was there? There weren't as many issues between her and Junny as he said, were there? She wrapped her arms around herself and shivered, something that was odd as it was actually rather hot in the booth. "He… He always loved me though…"

"But you were never there for him." Yurika gaped at Akito, who still stared out the window, propping up his chin with a hand. "You made him last choice. You chased me incessantly, then you went and fucked Akatsuki, and then you even had a relationship and lived with Erina before you turned to him. Frankly, I'm kinda confused as to why he didn't just tell you, 'Hell no!' straight out, you know? I mean… you've let him down a lot, ignored him a lot. He doesn't really have anything to go on to tell that you're serious."

Yurika found herself staring at the table's surface. Akito was, once again, right, even though she hated it. It happened so often. But not when it came to Junny. Junny always came back to her, that's what he did. But… if Akito was right, did that mean that he wouldn't be there for her anymore? Her eyes began to well up with tears. The thought frightened her. Ever since high school, she had Jun to fall back on when she needed it. That's why he was her best friend. But now, if what Akito said was true, and it sounded so, she had fallen back on him too much and it was her own fault if he decided to not take it anymore. 'Oh Magus, what have I done?'

"Oh, shit, Aqua, Yurika, don't cry!" Akito grasped her elbow and tried to get her to look at him. He didn't like it when she cried. She cried a lot in her time, but before it was just her being a baby. She had grown up quite a bit since the end of the war. It made him feel even worse that he had made her cry. "Look, uh… I know! I'll talk to Jun about it tonight, okay? Me and Jun… we're best buds, you know? I'll talk to him about it… just don't cry, please?"

The table suddenly bounced and both Martians nearly had a heart attack and a quick Boson Jump back to the Second World War. It had just been Izumi hitting the table as she passed. "Hey, Akito, stop bullying the woman. How Mei's about to kill you both. Hey, Yurika, Gareiru-san wants to –are you okay?" She just realized that Akito was trying to cheer her up, and that Yurika was crying.

Yurika nodded quickly, putting a smile up as she wiped her eyes. "Yeah, I'm okay…." Izumi glared at Akito for a second, as if it was his fault. Akito held up both hands, as if to block the death-glare she gave him. Izumi turned her gaze back to Yurika. "Are you sure? Well, I guess I can ruin the surprise for you then… I was going to say Gareiru-san wants to talk to you, but I guess I can tell you if it will make you happier… Gareiru wants to offer you a job. Apparently he thinks you proved yourself worthy during rush to keep up, even if it's just to deal with the cash machine. I can tell him to forget it, if you want…"

"No! No, I mean, that's great, Izumi! Thank you so much! Tell him thank you!"

"So you'll take it?"

"You bet I will!" Yurika smiled at Izumi, a contagious smile that spread even to Izumi's stoic visage. She walked back over to that side of the restaurant to tell Gareiru. Akito groaned. "Does that mean I have to see even more of you everyday?"

"Akito, I absolutely hate you."

"I know. I'll talk to Junny for you tonight, okay? Try to get him to give me some of his reasons."

"…Thanks."

~*~

And Akito kept to his word. The second they got home from Peaceful Days and right after Akito said hello to his boyfriend, he rushed right out the back door in the kitchen and knocked on the door to Jun's guest house before entering. Jun was sitting on his couch and flipping channels on his TV. Akito came and sat next to him, nodding a head toward the TV. "anything good?"

"Nah. I was just checking before I looked for a movie in the library to put in and maybe get a drink on the way by. You just get home?"

"Yup. Any minute now Gai's gonna come in here and raise hell that I just said hi to him and ran in here. He doesn't know what I went through today." Akito rubbed his temples then with a pained expression. Jun frowned and turned the TV off, wondering what Akito was talking about. Of course, he didn't get the chance to ask the question himself, as his door suddenly opened and shut as the actual owner of the house came in and felt to his knees behind the couch, his face and arms taking over the back of it. "So what's the deal with running in here right after you get home, Akito?"

"I'm just kind of obligated to do so, today, Gai, that's all."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I mean… look, Gai, you're screwing this up for me. I already had a pretty bad day at work and I'd really just like to get this over with as cleanly as possible."

"Why'd you have a bad day at work?" asked Jun, curious as to what was going on. Maybe Izumi wanted Akito to ask him something, or maybe one of the girls… No, Jun didn't know the girls all that well, not as well as Izumi and Akito knew them.

"For one reason and one reason only. Junny, will you PLEASE for the love of the five GODS give Yurika an answer?! I need to get her out of Peaceful Days, or the days won't be so peaceful anymore!" Akito widened his eyes and tugged on Jun's shirt as he whined, frowning and pouting the best he could to guilt trip Jun in the matter of moments.

Jun sighed and slumped where he sat. He should have known that's what it was. He hadn't seen Yurika all day, not that it was any different from any other day. He had started to avoid her when she was home and not in Hiratsuka for her weekly Jump test. Even though she had moved in with them and was not speaking with Erina and Kaguya, she was still a Jump Experiment subject, even though Inez didn't seem as worried about her performance as much anymore. But Jun should have known that Yurika wouldn't have gone in to Hiratsuka on a Saturday. He had just figured that she had gone shopping or something. He wasn't all that sure, nor had he cared at the moment. But it never occurred to him that she had gone to the restaurant Akito worked at and caused trouble. It was so much like her, too. He sighed, annoyed. "So she came in and bugged you all day into getting an answer from me? I swear…"

"No, actually, she came in because she said she was sick of seeing you dart out of rooms the second she comes in and she wanted to know why you haven't answered her yet and all that. You know, general paranoid-Yurika stuff."

Gai scratched his head. "So she was there all day? For that?" Akito shook his head. "No, not just because of that. She came in during the start of rush while Junko was belting out that one song… you know… The one she wrote and all… But anyway, rush started and we seemed to be a little understaffed for the crowd today, so Gareiru recruited Yurika to help with taking orders. Lo and behold, next thing I know, she's frickin' hired to work with Izumi. So Jun, please, please, please give her an answer and get her out of my working place? How Mei threatened to actually make me COOK today because we started to fight during rush."

Jun started to laugh. "Make you cook? I thought you loved doing that!" Akito shrugged. "Well, yeah, but…"

"Not in a restaurant?" asked Gai crossed his arms and laying his head on them on the back of the couch. Akito shrugged again. "Maybe… Cooking is just my thing, but I really don't like cooking in restaurants. I'll do cash machine any day, but running around taking orders for complete strangers kind of lacks… something."

"Maybe that little personal touch of how you know they like their food, like how you KNEW Hikaru likes her curry spicy, and how you KNEW that Ryoko always need crackers or some form of bread with her food, no matter what it was?" suggested Gai, scratching his neck. Akito shrugged one last time, then shook his head. "Maybe, but we're getting off the subject. Junny, Yurika wants to know if you think she'll leave you in the drop of a hat. Well… I want to know too. Is that what it is?"

"HELL no. That isn't it at all." Jun stood from the couch and began to pace. "No, see, what it is is that I'm not sure if she's serious about this at ALL. If she even knows what this means. What marriage means. What it implies and all that."

"I don't follow."

"Okay… Rewind to about three years ago. I ask the ever lovely Misumaru Yurika if she would marry me after much coaching from her father and many sleepless nights thinking about it. It took me MONTHS to get up the courage to do it, to make sure it was what I wanted. Months. I'm not kidding. I put so much thought into I think I had the first five years planned out in times of finances and the works. I planned out every single outcome of her answer save for one; the one she gave me. 'Sure, Jun. I'll marry you. You're my best friend after all, and I don't know of anyone I'd rather get married to.' She wasn't serious, obviously, because it took only a few weeks for me to get demoted to 'just a good friend'. Not 'fiancé' or 'who I'm going to spend the rest of my life with', but 'good friend'. I didn't even have 'best friend'. And what caused this? You." Jun stopped talking for a moment to point at Akito. It wasn't malicious though, it was more as if he pointed at her angrily. He then continued to pace. "Because someone else she knew was suddenly in the picture, she was all too happy to throw away our engagement. I just… I don't think she understands what it means, you know? How am I supposed to know any answer I give her will matter in a matter of months, or even weeks? She'll find someone else. She always does." Jun sat down on the couch, pushing his hands through his hair. It may have been very cynical, what he said, but his sensitivity to the situation had lessened greatly over time. How much time, he wasn't sure.

"I disagree." Akito's ears perked up as heard the voice near his ear fire up to life. He turned and realized that it was, in fact, Gai who said it, a frown forming on his face. "I mean, sure, she's been around. She's had a lot of firsts in the past few years. But… all of her relationships… hasn't she been serious about them, all of them? Think about it… While we could never trust Erina, she probably would still be with her had Erina not cheated on her… She didn't fully trust Akatsuki, and that's why they broke up, but she was serious enough about him to have sex with him… She was serious enough about Akito to realize that it wasn't working and that he made her sick to her stomach…" To that Akito crossed his arms and looked away snobbishly. "I do no make people sick to their stomachs."

"You do once you open your mouth and all your garbage flows out, hon. Anyway…" this was met with an indignant gasp, to which Gai patted Akito's head to shut him up. "And think, if this boy hadn't gotten into the picture, Yurika may have actually married you. Perhaps for all the wrong reasons, but she would have done it nonetheless."

"And all the wrong reasons is exactly why I'm worried she doesn't understand what her asking me to marry her means. I mean, Flamma, she had to ask her father to come and intimidate me!"

"No…" mumbled Akito. "She said it was for moral support. You remember how nerve racking it was for you to ask her, you know?"

"Well," started Jun, trying to remember his other reason, "what makes you think that someone else won't enter the picture and she'll drop our relationship immediately?"

"Well, I don't know her as well as you guys do, obviously, but… I've noticed from the first day we got on the ship til now, she's grown up so much. She was so naïve and innocent at the beginning, but now… She knows what it means. I can tell." Akito nodded to Gai's analysis. "Yeah, I'm not defending her or anything… in fact, I'm DEFINITELY not defending her, but… Gai's right. I mean, this time it's not friendship. She loves you. Why else would she go out of her way to get you to stop avoiding her by just leaving? She's giving you space. I'd hate to admit it, but she's doing everything she can to get an answer and now she's starting to worry about getting the 'no' it looks like you're about to give her."

"And then there's that steamy kiss at the wedding. Holy shit, man. I was five seconds away from screaming, 'Get a room!'" Gai grinned evilly, a smile that matched his near-sister a way that only the woman herself and her girlfriend could do as well. Akito laughed. "Seriously, Jun. Wasn't that your first?"

Jun began to turn bright red, eliciting even more comments and howls of laughter from the other two men. "Flamma, I hate you both! You're just as bad as women!"

"Aw, but Junny, we LURVE you!" flirted Akito batting his eyelashes at the older man. Jun just picked up a pillow and threw it at him. "I still hate you, Akito. You both can go to hell." With that, Jun left the two of them in the living room of the guest house.

Gai stood up and cracked his back with a sigh. "So what do you think he's going to do?"

Akito stretched his own arms out. "Oh, he'll probably tell her yes before the weekend's over. I can almost guarantee it."

By the shriek they heard coming from the main house, Akito was right. Only far too right. He snapped his fingers and whispered, "Damn, should trust myself more. And learn to gamble more appropriately."

Gai looked at him funny before opening Jun's door. "Why, you knew that he was going to go tell her yes right now? How?"

Akito rolled his eyes. "Gai, come on. You were my best friend once, and it was only for a few weeks before we hooked up and all, remember? I knew EVERYTHING about you. Jun's my best buddy, I'll have you know. Me and him, we're like this." Akito pointed at his eyes with two outstretched fingers and wagged his wrist back and forth, gesturing that they saw eye to eye. Then he walked out the door that Gai held open, sighing a bit as he realized that Gai was doing it again.

Gai only frowned and walked out last. He only wondered why he and Akito couldn't see eye to eye anymore. Perhaps that's what their relationship lacked, but when did it deteriorate?

~*~

Ruri entered her room quietly. If it was one thing she had learned from the popular media, it was that slamming things around and making a racket made the relationship just that much worse, and it was far too instant. She had become a large fan of the more subdued method, one that took time to make its effects known and for the proper reaction to form. It was more her style as a person anyway.

She went to her closet and pulled out her suitcase, which she had only used a mere two weeks ago on her trip to Ninlan. It was gray and wheeled, and was generally large, as it had been bought for the Ninlan trip in particular and prepared to carry the dresses her mother insisted she wore to represent the country.

Her mother. Ruri wanted to hiss at the thought of that woman. Gwyneth always talked about the good of the country and the good of the family and the good of the future. 'She knows nothing about what this is all about. The country is a joke, the family is falling apart because of her bigotry, and she will have NO hand in my future, whether I become queen or not. I don't care if I do or not either. I don't need Peaceland to become great.' She zipped it open with a seething calm that would have appeared cold to anyone watching. But there was only one watching.

"What's wrong, Ruri-sama?" Ruri nearly jumped as she had begun to undress out of the black and purple dress that she had worn that morning and early afternoon. She sighed in relief that it was just Omoikane and continued to pry her body out of the constricting velvet and taffeta. "It's her again. I'm not going to take it anymore, Omoikane." Ruri tossed the dress onto her bed and looked into her closet for something that was much more comfortable.

"Oh, the queen?"

Ruri snorted as she pulled her Nergal off-duty shirt over her head. "That woman is no queen. Oh, she'll try really hard, but she just doesn't understand that she is also a mother. Gods above, she's as bad as Erina!" She went to her dresser and found a light blue skirt to wear with it and pulled it on. Then she pulled the purple ribbons out of her hair and brushed the pigtails out.

"So what are you going to do?" Omoikane wrung his hands together. He was worried, especially since Ruri always had to wear gowns and extravagant dresses at home, yet she was changing into more casual clothing that would have made the queen very, very angry. Ruri picked out a light blue barrette and clipped half of her bangs out of her face. Once she was happy with her appearance, she began to pull clothes out of her dresser and fold them, placing them inside the piece of luggage.

"I would have thought it obvious, Omoikane. Perhaps I should call Uribatake-san and see if I can't get you an upgrade… But I suppose I could do that some other time. I'm leaving." Ruri picked out, specifically, her old Nadesico uniform, glancing at it in nostalgia.

"What?! How could you leave, Ruri-sama? These are your parents, this is your family!" Omoikane was aware that Ruri and Gwyneth's relationship was pretty bad, but he wasn't sure if it warranted Ruri running away from home.

"Correction. They do not have custody of me yet. Not until July 20th. That's six months since I started living with them. Nergal still has custody of me. I have every right to leave." She folded the uniform up with care and placed it on top of the clothes in her suitcase. Then she went to her private bathroom and started to gather her bathroom supplies.

"But… Ruri-sama, where will we be going?" Ruri dropped her bathroom things into the suitcase and turned around. "'We' won't be going anywhere. You will be staying here and I will be going to… Well… I suppose I could go to Tenkawa-san and Yamada-san's home… It should be large enough for me to stay there too, and if not, I'll just go to Haruka-san's or Uribatake-san's." She zipped up the suitcase and then went back to her closet for some shoes.

"I won't be going? Why… Why not, Ruri-sama?" He didn't sound angry, just… sad. Very sad. And lonely. It made Ruri feel a little guilty about leaving him here. But she set her mouth into a determined line as she picked up some tennis shoes, her slippers, a pair of sandals and her old metal shoes from the Nadesico.

"Because. I know for a fact that Nergal and Asuka still have ties to you and if my parents request them to track you down in hopes of finding me, Nergal and Asuka will only be too happy to oblige." She put her sandals on her feet and placed the other shoes into the side pocket of her suitcase. Then she stood it up and pulled the handle out.

Omoikane began to pout. "But…" But he had no argument. He wanted to go with her, he always wanted to go with her, but she was right. She was always right, too. But he didn't have to like it. He felt her touch his forehead with her fingertips. The nanomachines in her blood and the nanomachine surface under his rubbery skin both flared to life at the connection.

'Omoikane, I'm not planning on staying forever. Just even for my parents to realize that I am just too young to be considered an independent adult, not too immature or anything. Besides, I do have every right to leave. And if something happens to me, you tell everyone where I am. I'll be tapping in to you, all right?' Omoikane nodded slowly, mentally. Ruri herself nodded physically, and let her hand drop from his face. She picked up a pair of sunglasses that shielded her identity a bit, the grasped the handle of her suitcase. "Omoikane, could you please create a diversion?"

Omoikane nodded sadly, closing his eyes to focus on the security network of the castle. Obviously, she would want to leave through the back, and the front would make more sense for there to be an intruder. He set off every alarm in the front of the castle, causing mass chaos for the security guards and creating enough of a disturbance to warrant a summoning of the king and queen. Ruri nodded as soon as she heard the high pitched squeal, muffled by her door and the distance. "Thank you." She then slipped out of the room, leaving Omoikane alone.

~*~

It had appeared much easier to get out of Peaceland than Ruri had expected. She had been identified almost immediately at the Jump Shuttle Station when she said that she was heading toward Kawasaki and was a Jumper herself. However, with the story that she was just going to visit some of her old friends from the Nadesico, she got to get on without the worry of her parents finding out so soon. She really hated to do this to her father, but she had an inkling of a feeling that he would understand.

But what was more annoying was trying to get a cab from the Shuttle station in Kawasaki to Yamada-san's house. She actually looked up the address for it before hand, but had realized that the taxi driver only spoke English after giving all of the directions in Japanese. But, as she handed the driver the money and closed the door of the taxi, she had finally made it after only a few hours of travel from Peaceland.

As the taxi drove away, Ruri looked off into the distance at the other mansion that stood a little down the side road that led to the twin houses. 'Well, not twins anymore. She had seen it as they had gone by, but it wasn't until now when she realized what it was. If the house before her was Yamada Manor, the other was most definitely Kazamo Manor. However, it had obviously been decimated by something, which she could tell just by looking out the window of the car. But it wasn't until now that she could identify it.

'It's a Chulip.' Ruri had no idea that the house Itsuki had grown up in was a victim of the war itself. In fact, it was then that Ruri realized that she knew very little of those she was about to ask for room and board from. Was she even sure who all lived there now? 'Yamada-san and Tenkawa-san, of course… Kazamo-san and Subaru-san, as well… Amano-san, Maki-san, and Aoi-san… And then Yurika had come to live there as well sometime before… Emperor and Empress Adagio's wedding.' It kind of unnerved her in that she had to take a tally of how many people there were. Although she had many brothers, Peace Castle was large and space for yourself could always been found. This place wasn't as large as Peace Castle , obviously, but it was still pretty big. Her hopes for a place to stay started to fade as she stepped onto the grounds.

The front was well kept, properly swept and gardened, something that didn't seem to fit those that lived here. Had she gone to the wrong place? No, the name on front gate was "Yamada". But it was a very popular name…

She dragged her suitcase up to the door and rang the doorbell, removing her sunglasses in hopes that she would recognizable to Nadesico crew, at least. She had thought she looked completely different at home, but now she wasn't so sure. She barely ever wore her Nergal shirt, but that may have been what tipped the shuttle authorities off.

She heard a shout from the right side of the door. "It's not locked, you retards!" Ruri's eyebrows met and she suppressed the urge to call whoever it was an idiot. However, it renewed her hope, as she was almost certain that she had heard Hikaru. Instead, Ruri rang the doorbell once more. She then heard an overly dramatic shriek and the door opened a few moments later. It was, in fact, Hikaru, but she was too busy yelling at whomever she THOUGHT was at the door to actually see who it was. "Aer-dammit, Gai, Itsuki! I was working and the door is working fine!" Ruri only blinked a few times before Hikaru actually saw her, but right after she got a very interesting view of the inside of Hikaru's mouth.

"Ru-Ru-Ruri, what the hell are you doing here?" Ruri had expected this sort of response. After all, she had just showed up randomly and had not called beforehand. She supposed it was sort of rude, just showing up with a suitcase, but had she called, she may not have made as clean of an escape from the country. 'Escape. I make it sound so dramatic. Yet it isn't.'

"I assume Yamada-san is not here." Hikaru blinked a couple of times, then looked behind Ruri at her gray suitcase. "Ah… you want to see the so called man of the house… Well, him and Itsuki should be here any minute… Why don't you come on in, Ruri?" Hikaru opened the door for the princess to come in. Ruri did, switching her sandals out as she pulled her slippers out of the side of her bag. She tossed her hair and examined the foyer as Hikaru shut the door. Despite it being pleasant and sunny outside, Hikaru was dressed in a fuchsia sweatshirt and orange and pink baggy pants. The music was cranked up rather loud in the open room off the foyer, and Ruri wondered how she could have not heard it, yet heard Hikaru yelling at the door. This wonder died quickly though as Hikaru stepped into that room, gesturing for Ruri to follow her. Hikaru stopped in front of the stereo against the wall and the loud music cut off immediately, an electronic silence following. "Sorry about that at the door. I was working though. Character development. So, just go ahead and sit down and we can chat a little before Gai and his big sis show up. You want tea or a soda or anything?"

Ruri shook her head and sat down on the blue couch, smoothing her skirt as she did so. Hikaru nodded and headed to the kitchen anyway, and came back quickly with one for herself. Then she flopped into the blue chair next to the couch. "So, Ruri, how come you ran away?"

"Was it really that obvious?" Hikaru nodded quickly. "You bet. You got luggage, for one thing. I doubt that your mom, bless her sweet little piece-of-shit heart, would ever let you just go randomly visit us alone, without your brother or that guard-guy or Omoikane to keep track of your whereabouts… Then there's the look, of course. I don't think I remember seeing you without pigtails. And that Nergal shirt is in mint condition. But it looks as if you just up and left. There's that whole feeling of relief when you showed up…"

Ruri folded her hands in her lap and stared at them, turning her hands over to look at the white circles that proved her skin was just pale, not pure white. She had no idea that Hikaru was so strange. It took her a few moments to realize that it was Ruri at the door, not her friends, but she knew almost instantly that Ruri had run away. 'Not run away. Left. I had and still have every right to leave.'

"My only question is why, other than the general your mom being a total bitch. I saw her at the ball, and I wanted to punch her in the face for giving Ariko and Yukina death-glares." Ruri looked up suddenly as Hikaru's words interrupted her thoughts. Instead of losing the thread to the deep cavern of her mind, she spouted it quickly, "I had every right to leave. They do not hold custody yet, Nergal still does. And as long as I am in the residence of either my biological parents or a current or former employee of Nergal, it is all right."

Hikaru blinked a couple times. "Okay… so you're… looking for a place to stay, right?"

"I came here first on the impression that this was the most likely to have a room for me, yes." Hikaru drew her breath in through her teeth, looking a bit worried. Ruri stood up realizing what that little noise meant. "There isn't, is there?"

"Well…" Hikaru never got to finish, as the front door opened and there was a large amount of fighting taking place at that exact moment.

"For the last time, Jiro, it's not going to work in space! I'm the missile expert here!"

"But Uribatake said it MIGHT! You remember what 'might', means, Itsuki? It means it's possible, you absolute whore!"

"Oh, so you're resorting to childish insults you fuckbag?!"

"Dear God of Earth, will you two just shut the fuck UP?!?"

Hikaru let out a sigh. "Ah, they're home. How sweet. Hey! GAI! Get your ass in the parlor!" Gai let out a huge sigh and leaned against the wall leading into the room. "What, Hikaru?"

Hikaru shook her head and pointed at Ruri. Gai took a double-take before gasping out, "Ruri? Wh… What the hell are you doing here?"

"I asked the exact same damn thing about ten minutes ago, dude. She left home and she kind of needs a place to stay."

"W… Wait a minute! She's a princess and has a family and everything! I don't want to be the reason Peaceland is not-so-peaceful toward Japan anymore!" Gai threw his hands up and started to walk out of the room, shaking his head. He obviously was at a loss of what was going on.

"No, man! Gai, oh shit, hang tight Ruri." Hikaru leapt out of the chair and started running out the parlor and into the foyer and to some other part of the house that Ruri couldn't identify. Itsuki stuck her head into the room though. "Hi Ruri, I'm sure Hikaru won't be long at getting Jiro to come back. What did you say you needed?"

"A place to stay." Itsuki didn't get to answer as Gai began shouting as Hikaru dragged him by his ear out of the other room, through the foyer, and into the parlor, where she threw him into a chair. "Ruri-chan just needs a place to crash, Gai, calm the hell down!"

Gai rubbed his general face with his hands. "Good Goddess of Air, if my parents were alive…" Itsuki fisted her hands on her hips and glared at him. "But they aren't, Jiro, get over it."

"Seriously, man. Now, Gai, I know there aren't any beds left, but I was thinking while you and Itsuki were about to rip each other's larynxes out. We have, like, a million and two couches that Ruri could sleep on, you know?"

"Ruri will not be sleeping on a couch! Help me, Jiro."

"Itsuki's right, Hikaru. Princesses don't sleep on couches."

"I do NOT need special treatment just because of my biological lineage, Yamada-san, Kazamo-san. I can sleep on a sofa if it will be all right."

"Princess or no, we're not letting anyone sleep on a couch when everyone else is sleeping on beds!"

"Hang on, Itsuki, I got this." Ryoko sudden entrance into the conversation startled those already engaged within, just as her sudden departure from the room did. A few moments later, she came back, dragging a very confused Jun into the room. "I got an idea, and it involves the step-bro over here."

"What do you want, Ryoko? I was reading!"

"Reading comics. My idea is that we get the engaged couple sleeping in the same room, then the bed in Hikaru's room is empty and ready for Ruri to sleep in!"

"WHAT?!?" shouted Jun, apparently not very aware of what was going on at all. Hikaru tapped her chin with a finger. "It could work, but we'd have to ask Yurika. That, and I don't know if Ruri would mind sleeping in the same room as me."

"I wouldn't mind. When did Yurika and Aoi-san become engaged?"

"I DO! What makes you think Yurika and I are ready for that step? And I only have one bed in my room, Ryoko, Hikaru!"

"That's the point, Jun. And it was on Saturday, Ruri."

"Yeah, I mean, you guys are going to fuck sooner or later anyway…"

"Who was going to fuck?" The voice was unmistakable; the three that worked at Peaceful Days had also returned home. Yurika waved to those that had gathered in the parlor with a greeting smile. She didn't even have a chance to say hello to Ruri before Ryoko bounded up and began whispering a mile a minute in Yurika's ear. The only clues the others had to what was being said was a lot of pointing at Ruri and Jun. Meanwhile Jun's face gradually turned more and more red, yet Ruri stayed sitting perfectly still as she watched Yurika's face. It turned from surprise and shock, to understanding, to an evil little smile that made even Ruri wonder what was on her mind. Once Ryoko had finished, she too studied Yurika's visage, laughing softly at the expression.

Yurika continued to smile evilly until her gaze fell on Jun, who was peeking through his fingers. Then her smile grew even more evil, if such a thing were possible. "Why, no, Hikaru. I wouldn't mind giving up my bed in your room to Ruri. I have no problem…" she walked over to where Jun sat on the edge of the couch, "sleeping…" she knelt down on the floor and rested her hands on his knees, "with Junny!" She pushed his knees apart and passed her hands over the insides of his thighs, just barely touching them enough to be tickling. Jun jerked spasmodically and tightened himself into a little ball as he continued to become even redder, if such a thing were possible. "Flamma, Yurika, leave me alone~!" he whined, trying to bury himself into the cushions of the blue couch. Squeals of laughter bubbled in the room, and even Ruri, whose own face was beginning to take a slight shade of pink, smiled and laughed a little under her breath. Hikaru clapped as Yurika stood up and flipped her hair behind her triumphantly, turning on her heel and strolling out of the parlor.

Akito watched this from where he was trying to unlace his shoes still. "What the hell?" Yurika grinned at him. "Be jealous, Akito! Junny's virginity is MINE!" Akito's jaw dropped as she headed up the stairs, obviously to gather her things from Hikaru's room to take to Jun's little guest house. He switched into his slippers quickly and bounded up the stairs right after. "Wait a minute, hold on! What the hell is going on and how do you rate?"

"I'm the fiancée, that's how I rate!"

Izumi only watched this with a smile. She then walked into the parlor herself, grabbing the remote and sitting next to where Ruri suddenly stood, feeling a bit crowded. Izumi patted her shoulder. "Welcome to the insane asylum, Ruri. You may leave, but you never truly check out." Ruri smiled, then opened her mouth. Izumi shook her head and held a finger to her lips. "Don't you even dare ask it. Yes, we are always like this."

"And apparently it grows on you as well."

"I DID say you never truly check out."

"This is true. Amano-san, where is your room?"

Hikaru smacked her forehead with a hand. "Okay, first of all, no more 'Amano-san'. HIKARU! And follow me, I'll show you."

~*~

Gai hefted the stack of plates onto the counter next to the dishwasher. "That's the last of them." Akito nodded and continued to fill the dishwasher with the accumulation in the sink and on the counters. Because it was Ruri's first day in the mansion, Akito had gone all out in the cooking dinner department. He appeared somewhat exhausted.

"Sucks that you volunteered for dishwasher duty the day you decide to cook everything under the sun for Ruri."

"I had to do it; I love Ruri-chan! But you could take over for me, you know…"

"Uh, no thanks. I uh… I've broken my hands on your exquisite cooking."

"Spoiled, brown-nosing brat." But there was no anger in Akito's voice, just amusement. Any thoughts toward dinner had to have been filled with amusement. Yurika had made Jun turn so many different colors at the dinner table, and Ryoko had screamed, until her throat was raw, "My best friend and my stepbrother getting it on! IN MY HEAD! Gah! The imagery, imagery! And no one to blame but myself!!!" Ruri had taken some interest into whatever project Itsuki and Gai were working on at work, while Akito got the whole story about Ruri's appearance at the mansion from Hikaru, who told both him and Izumi simultaneously. A smile formed on his face while remembering it.

A frown marred Gai's face as he went over to the breakfast nook in the kitchen and sat down in one of the chairs at the table. He was plagued by a few events of the past few days that had been incited by his boyfriend. "Akito…"

"Hm? What is it?"

"Why do you suppose we don't… we're not like this?" Gai copied Akito's gesture from Saturday, pointing at his eyes and Akito's with a movement of his wrist. Akito sighed deeply and shut the dishwasher, glaring at the dishes still on the counter before he moved them to the sink. "Well, Gai, things have changed between us, you know?"

"But why? They were all right before, weren't they? On our first try? We were still friends…"

"Well it's kind of hard to stay friends with someone when they have this freaking 'me-Tarzan-you-Jane' mentality that makes you wonder if they even fucking respect you, Gai." Akito went into the laundry room and pulled the spray cleaner out of the cupboard in there. When he came back into the kitchen, Gai was now standing. "Look, Akito, I thought that that's what you wanted from me… To be more honest with you and all."

"Honest with me! He calls this honest with me, Aqua! Gai, it's degrading! This whole chivalry bullshit… I hate it! I'm a man too, you know, and I thought that this was a serious relationship, not just some sort of demented, early-twentieth century Miss Daisy thing! It's a whole new century, Gai, and the old-fashioned shit is pissing me off. And you expect there to more trust in this?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, you have no fucking room to talk about trust in this, Akito! Half the time I can't even trust you to stick to your supposed monogamy and no cheat on me!"

"Wh… WHAT? Me cheat on you?!?"

"It's not exactly unfounded, now, is it? You're always flirting with Jun all the time, I'm sure that anyone would believe you were fucking him, going out with him instead of me! What kind of respect is that?"

"That is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard, Gai."

"Is it? Just now you got all pissed off when Yurika told you she was going to be sleeping in Jun's room while Ruri's here! That's not supposed to spawn worry for our relationship at all, is it?"

"It's all in fun, Gai, Aqua! Calm the fuck down! As if given the chance you wouldn't fuck Junny? I seriously doubt it!"

"I wouldn't while I was still with you! In case you've forgotten I fucking love you, Akito!"

"You just can't take a fucking joke, Gai. That's why we can't seem to be friends anymore. Junny was worried about Yurika not being serious enough, I just have to worry about you being too serious."

"How serious is too serious, Akito? That's what I ask you. Because you don't seem to be serious enough about this, and that's why I can't seem to trust you." Gai sat back down in the chair, turning toward the wall and looking out the window to the back porch and the pool, not to mention Jun's guest house. The lights were still on and Gai could see Jun and Yurika sitting on the couch and talking, Jun's face turning interesting colors again, but he seemed capable of speech. There seemed to be so much understanding between Jun and Yurika. Gai thought they were perfect for each other. Yurika had grown to be a little more serious about her life, but still capable of being cheerful. Jun had loosened up a bit more, but still had not lost his ability to keep things in perspective to reality, rather than idealism.

Yurika reached over and ran her hands through Jun's chin length hair and he appeared to appreciate the touch. Yurika smiled at this and took charge, leaning over and pulling Jun's face to hers, kissing him with a passion, a LOVE Gai was starting to miss in his and Akito's relationship. He looked away in shame for watching. The second he did, however, he felt hands slide over his shoulders and chest, and arms wrapping around his neck. Though the back of the chair separated them, Gai was sure he could still feel Akito's own chest against his back. Akito leaned his face against one of his arms as Gai turned to see him. "I'm sorry," he breathed. "I just… I just get so mad."

"I know. I'm sorry too."

"Obviously we have a lot of issues to deal with."

"Yeah."

There was a pause before Akito spoke again. "Gai?"

"Yeah?"

"I still love you, even with our issues."

"I'm glad. I still love you too."

Akito smiled softly, worriedly. "I'm glad too." Gai nodded slowly. Akito turned his head to look out the window and into Jun's. Yurika had definitely taken charge of the kiss, her hands running over Jun's shoulders as it appeared that she pushed him down with her wait onto the couch. Akito quickly averted his eyes, biting his lip. He unwrapped his arms from Gai's neck and pushed himself back up to his feet, rather than his knees. His hands barely got to travel away before Gai caught it with his own. Akito stopped and turned a bit to see why Gai had a grip on his hand. Gai just looked back. Akito could tell then that Gai really was as sorry as he was and prepared to make some changes, within reason. Akito nodded slowly, walking back over and tilting his head to kiss his boyfriend. It was probably only the second kiss Akito ever had near-full control over.

And it made it just that much nicer.

~*~

The phone rang.

With the single ring of the phone, two bodies in the ballroom rushed to get to it before the other. Of course, this involved much beating down of the other, but after a good and clean wrestling fight, Hikaru stood up, victorious, and pulled her shirt down as Izumi had nearly ripped it off. "Besides, Izumi, it could be the publisher I called!" Just as she was reaching for the phone, she braced herself for another attack, as she had heard Izumi getting up off the floor. None came however, and Izumi just sighed instead. "Don't be all day on the phone though, I'm expecting Inez to call."

"Sure." Hikaru picked the phone up off the hook and held it to her ear. "Moshi-moshi? Yamada and Kazamo residence, this is Amano Hikaru speaking!"

"YOU'VE KIDNAPPED MY DAUGHTER! THERE ARE LAWS AGAINST HEATHENS LIKE YOU LIVING FOR LONG AND SO BE IT I –" Hikaru yanked the phone away from her ear from the crazy woman's incessant screaming. She stuck a finger in her ear and tried to get rid of the ringing sound within manually. Izumi, who had sit down to watch TV, looked behind her. Apparently even she had heard the yelling, and probably still did now. Hikaru pointed at the phone and said very clearly and plainly, as she was sure the woman on the phone couldn't hear her anyway, "Get Ruri, please?" Izumi nodded and was off to the study in a matter of moments. Hikaru, on the other hand, had to deal with the Queen of Peaceland until they could get the Princess on the phone.

"Ne, ne, ne, Your Highness, I assure you that we did not KIDNAP Ruri! She came to us herself and she's a big girl, you know..." Hikaru didn't get a chance to finish as another phone, most likely the one in the study, was picked up and the calm voice of Ruri penetrated the conversation with an icy stoicism that was only Ruri on a bad day. "Moshi-moshi?" Needless to say, it took only a second for Hikaru to hang up the phone once Ruri had it.

"Ruri! How are you? Where are you? Your father and I have been absolutely frantic!"

Ruri rolled her eyes. "I seriously doubt that Otousama has been all that worried, 'Kaasan. Did you or did you not check with the conductor at the Shuttle Station?"

"Why, that man… I asked your father to, in case he saw who took you!"

"No one took me!"

"Don't be ridiculous, Ruri. Of course someone took you! You're not capable of leaving the country alone, even with enough clout as you have as our First Heir. You are, after all, only fourteen."

"Only! Might I remind you, 'Kaasan, that I have seen so much more of the world than you have yourself!"

"Don't talk to me with that tone of voice, Ruri. And I am 'OksaaSAMA', not ''Kaasan' as you so rudely continue to call me. I'm your predecessor and I deserve respect for that, Ruri."

"You do not respect me as a person. I have been through a war and helped discover a whole new planet. On top of that, I was the very first Electronic Fairy in existence and have turned around the entire educational field."

"All very interesting accomplishments, Ruri, as I've said before, save for that whole 'Electronic Fairy' business. I still think we should think about changing that…"

"It is impossible. As the nanomachines I my blood have already been ordered by the Boson Jump Computer to rewrite my DNA so that I am capable of Boson Jumping, a removal may just prove fatal."

"You do not know that for sure, Ruri."

"Please. Might I also remind me, 'Kaasan, that not only do I have a high school diploma, but I also have a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science and I'm soon to get my honorary Master's in the same subject."

"But you still have no idea how to run a country. We are getting off subject. You need to come home as soon as possible. You need to finish your studies before you may visit your little friends, so tell them good bye and come back to the castle."

"Have you been listening to a word I've said?! I don't need that idiotic tutor for anything!"

"Ruri! You will apologize to him the second you come home! And you have no idea how to run a country, of course you need to continue your studies."

"Peaceland isn't a country, it's a joke. Running it would probably be easier than running the Nadesico. And I'm not coming home. Not now. I'm staying here."

"Oh yes you will come home."

"No. I refuse."

"I demand that you return immediately!"

"No. I am not among friends there. I am much safer here, and the well-being of my intelligence and sanity will not be compromised. Tell Otousama, Ariko-chan, and Omoikane that I will miss him and that I will be home in a few weeks. Goodbye." Ruri hung up the phone with a satisfying slam.

On the other side of the world, Gwyneth glared at the dead phone in her hand. Just before the dial tone came on, Gwyneth replaced the phone back onto the cradle. She had been sitting in her office to make the call, her lavender gown spreading underneath the desk. She rubbed her temples; that girl gave her a severe headache. She was almost certain that Ruri had been kidnapped, with the security breach in the back of the castle the day prior. But as Ruri had spoken, it became more and more apparent that Ruri had left of her own accord. The security breach, as they had found nothing, had probably been a hoax set up by Ruri as a diversion. Gwyneth honestly knew exactly what Ruri was capable of. She had known since Ruri had hacked Nergal, both times, that Ruri would be capable of doing anything. But, rather than being a proud parent of such a powerful daughter, Gwyneth was intensely jealous and wanted to restrict Ruri's power at all times. Perhaps it was the maternal link she lacked with Ruri that made her see the girl that had inherited most of her looks in a completely different light. But she had actually given birth to Ariko, and she had soon discovered even Ariko's power as a person on the outside.

'Ariko.' The Second Heir and First Prince was almost as bad as Ruri. He was almost twelve years old and it seemed as if he already had a girlfriend in a girl Ruri's age. A Jumper. Not just a Jumper, either, but a Jupiterian. A girl from the opposing nation that tried to destroy Earth's colonies and countries, and Ariko was best friends with her! Gwyneth understood perfectly Fredrick's desire to keep Peaceland neutral; after all, without neutrality, how was it still Peaceland, but she didn't see why they still could not make a political statement. She did not marry him and produce heirs for him so that they could stay completely neutral on every social subject known to man. And with a Jumper and friend of a Jumper living under the roof, they were already making a political statement. Not one that she appreciated, of course. Gwyneth could not stand Jumpers. They were a violation of nature, and to know that the girl who would succeed her was one made her skin crawl.

She was about to stand to look for her husband when she realized he was standing in the doorway. It angered her that he had begun to adopt Ariko's habit of wearing common clothing, but she said nothing about it. "Yes?"

"I did speak with the conductor at the station. Ruri-chan did, in fact, leave on her own." Gwyneth stuck her nose in the air. "But they have helped in concealing a political figure. They will pay."

"They will not." Gwyneth glared at her husband; Fredrick did not eel it at all. "They are Ruri's friends and she trusts them. There is no other reason for her departure to their residence, save for how you treat her."

"There is nothing wrong with how I treat her!"

"You treat her like gum on your shoe, Gwyneth! You're supposed to be her mother!"

"That girl was never meant to have a mother." Fredrick stepped back at the callus comment. "I… I see. Is that how you feel about her? You… You want to disinherit her?"

"Why not? She isn't my real child anyway. And she certainly isn't acting like a Princess."

"She still holds both of our DNA! And she's a free spirit. She still has time to do as she pleases before she becomes a queen. Let her!"

"DNA is why I want to disinherit her, Fredrick. She is a filthy Jumper."

"Not this again…"

"They are unnatural and far too powerful for our society to continue to flourish properly!"

"Gwyneth, she got that treatment done when she was four years old! It is not like she had any say, nor you, for that matter!"

"All the more reason to disinherit her. She is far too easily controlled."

"No, Gwyneth. I'm putting my foot down this time. Ruri stays in the line for the throne, and that is final." It was with that that Fredrick left Gwyneth's vision. Though he commonly did not show any leading power whatsoever, sometimes it appeared that he wore power like a cloak, and this was one of those times.

Simple put, she didn't mind of Ruri was easily controlled, as long as Gwyneth was the one doing the controlling. But the problem was that Ruri wasn't controllable, and was as much of a free spirit as Fredrick had said. But Gwyneth did not see this as a good thing at all. Not at all. Especially not for her own cause.

~*~

"Moshi-moshi, Yamada-Kazamo residence, Maki Izumi speaking."

"Finally you pick up the phone."

"I apologize. Ruri's mother called, and I certainly wasn't going to get in between that."

"Wait, what is Ruri doing there?"

"She left home. Her and her mother have some serious issues with each other, like… Jun and his mom and Ryoko and her dad issues. She swears up and down that it's okay, since all of us are former employees of Nergal, and Yurika is still one."

"Ah, Nergal does still own her papers. Yes, I suppose she's right. She must have researched it. And she went there first because of Yurika and Akito, did she not?"

"No, actually, she just expected there to be space here for her, and after some rearranging of sleeping arrangements, there was… Aqua, that's still weird."

"What is? Izumi, the last thing I know is that Rumiko had accused Yurika of murder and that she was picked up and questioned."

"Whoa, that was almost three weeks ago."

"Exactly. Nothing's gone on in my life save for Hari becoming my more focused project when it comes to Boson Jumping."

"Ah, working with an Electronic Fairy instead of Martians?"

"Well, Erina's somehow gotten her grubby paws on every Martian, so I can't trust the data on that. Hari's I can trust because it is all mine. But that is beside the point. What happened after Yurika was arrested?"

"Okay, yeah, they questioned her, and after she did some talking that matched up with their records, they let her out saying it wasn't her, but Ryoko doesn't believe them for a second."

"Well, obviously, since this is high profile, they want to keep a suspect within their watch. Are you sure she didn't use her magic in the interrogation?"

"Honestly, I don't know. She could have, but I don't really think so. I mean, it doesn't seem like her, you know?"

"Yes, but it may have been an accident. She wouldn't be the first time magic broke out amongst us."

"That is true… But anyway, then Jun and Ryoko went and picked her up, and everything was fine for a while… But then Yurika did the most stupid thing ever. She invited her father over, right? Now, normally this wouldn't be an issue, especially since she invited him over while we were all gone and busy. But the reason she made him visit was completely out of line."

"Well, don't leave me in the dark, Izumi. I don't have the grapevine to depend on anymore for gossip."

"Oh, it was bad. See, she invited her dad over for moral support as she proposed to Junny."

"Yurika proposed to Jun? Porposed MARRIAGE?"

"You betcha."

"Oh dear. And I suppose Admiral Misumaru was less for moral support and more for intimidation?"

"Yurika keeps arguing otherwise, but that's what I think, yeah."

"Poor Jun."

"Yeah, poor Jun. He fainted. Right there!"

"I wouldn't doubt it for a moment. But he did say yes, correct?"

"I'm getting to that. After he came to, he basically told her he needed to think about it."

"With Admiral Misumaru there, I suspect so."

"So almost a week goes by and suddenly Yurika shows up at Peaceful Days during Junko's one and only solo."

"Junko… How Mei Girl, right? Which one is she?"

"The one with the short blue hair, usually kept loose. Beautiful voice… if she had gone solo in the Talent Competition, she could have easily taken Second or First. The other girls kind of drag it down. You know that one Nadesico song? She wrote it."

"Interesting. Back onto the subject. Yurika comes in…"

"Sings along with Junko, since everyone knows that song. Junko has this incurable stage fright. Anyway, Yurika apparently had come to get out of the house and to ask Akito if he could figure out why Jun hasn't given her an answer, since she was confused after how Rumiko proposed to Megumi."

"Well, Jun and Megumi are completely different people."

"That's what I was saying. But then rush starts up and apparently in the course of thirty seconds we were understaffed at Gareiru's end, so Yurika comes to help and lo and behold, she has a job before rush is even over."

"So I shouldn't expect her here again anytime soon."

"No, she said something about continuing her training as a Jumper. Besides, this all happened on Saturday, didn't she show up on Sunday?"

"Yes, she did. Go on."

"Yeah, so they get home, and with coaching from Akito and Gai, Jun goes off and says yes, finally, so we can all breathe. But then, yesterday, Ruri shows up out of the blue. Like I said, something about her mother. And after some changes of sleeping arrangements, Ruri's staying in Hikaru's room while Jun and Yurika are sleeping together."

"And when you say sleeping together…"

"Heh, rumors say it's so. The rumors 'round the house do say that Junny is not longer our sweet little virgin."

"She does have that effect, doesn't she?"

"Effect, hell. She ran through the house before it even happened screaming that Jun's virginity was HERS!"

A laugh. "I never cease to be amused about how you people corrupt and yet are still so…"

"Yeah, we're kind of like some amorphous mass, like an amoeba. Sucking people in."

"Phagocytosis."

"You got it."

A pause. "How are YOU doing, specifically?"

"Me? Well…"

"…That bad?"

"No! I mean, no, not at all. Me, specifically… Well, things are very good. I'm a little shocked at how good things are. I have a fun job that I don't mind going to everyday, I'm not depressed anymore, I'm dating one of the most intelligent women in the system…"

"You are too kind."

"Perhaps. But… I honestly am just… happy."

"You're content."

"Yes, that's it."

"That's good. It's very good. It means you've made significant progress from when you first stepped onto the ship."

"Ouch! Stop it Hikaru, shit!"

"What's going on?"

"Ow! Hikaru's poking me to get off the phone. Go away!"

"Does she need it?"

"She says she's expecting a phone call from her latest editor. Ow! Okay, knock it off!"

A laugh. "Well, I suppose I should let you go then."

"I suppose. You call me or write me or visit, you!"

"I will try my best if you do the same."

"Of course. Love you, Inez."

"I love you as well, Izumi. Good bye."

"Bye."

~*~

TBC…

~*~

A/N: W00t. This was long, holy shit. But I wanted to get so much stuff done in it… I think it's okay, right? I'm just kind of getting annoyed with how slow this really is going, so I want to get some of the plotty business out of the way. But I was very happy with it. Despite an immense amount of pilot-y stuff… That just means next time won't have all that! ^^ Or maybe… I don't know yet. Anyway, how do you think it was? My life would be even happier if you dropped me a review once in a while. :P Anyway, next time may take some time to assemble, since this one I knew was going to happen the instant I planned it out, that's why it didn't end early or something. But anyway, let me know what you think and I'll see you next time. Toodles!


	25. Speculation and Dependency

A/N: Have I mentioned I hate school? Most of this was written during Spring Break. My last break until I graduate! Woo! Yeah. ^^ Anyway, I actually got a review from Shadow! SHOCK AND AWE! Yurika is so not evil, only she is. That made sense. And it was about time Junny lost it, though I bet none of you expected it to be her. ^^ Gwyneth is supposed to be bitchy, and Ruri… I just really wanted her to interact with Nadesico people more, and less of her family. But I know there was a lot of stuff at their house… I'm sorry! That's what happens when 26% of them live there… that doesn't seem like a lot, but over a fourth of my main cast in one house? Come on. Anyway, one thing that was interesting about last time was the focus on the How Mei Girls. It was fun delving into a mind that wasn't Sayuri's, so I might do a few more things with them more often. Make them more individuals and all. It'll be fun! But anyway, recap… Yurika is now working at Peaceful Days, Jun finally told Yurika yes after some coaching from Akito and Gai, Ruri finally skipped out of Peaceland and showed up at Yamada Manor, where she's staying now, Akito and Gai had the usual spat, Junny finally had sex! (with Yurika!) Gwyneth got pissy with Ruri, and Inez and Izumi had a small chat to catch up on each others' lives. Whew. This time… I'm sorry, don't hurt me, but a little more Yamada Manor stuff, checking back in with Peaceland, checking in with the business types, heading back to Ninlan, and some other interesting stuff. Not that much plotty-things, though, unless you're me and know where the plotty-things lie. That made sense too. Anyway, here goes Chapter 25 of "I'm your Madness!"

~*~

Ryoko stepped into Akito and Gai's room, knowing full well that not only did she have a day off, but Akito did as well, whether the reason was good behavior or sheer intolerance wasn't really known. But what she had not expected to see was both Hikaru and Ruri sitting on the bed, in hysterics and plain amusement, respectively. Of course, as Ryoko raised an eyebrow, she noticed she could only see this while looking past the Martian whose gravity had apparently gone wrong, as he was standing on his hands, his shirt threatening to fall completely off his body as his face turned shades of red that even Jun could not produce in the most embarrassing of situations. Ryoko's mouth made motions to beg for an explanation, but the words just didn't come out, as Akito grunted, "Time?"

"Two more minutes, 'Kito!" chirped Hikaru, glancing at her watch.

"Ugh." Then Ryoko suddenly found her voice that was sleeping in her throat. "Okay, what the hell?"

A small smile formed on Ruri's face. "Hikaru and I have bet Tenkawa-san that he could not stand on his hands for five full minutes. Tenkawa-san, never one to turn down a competition, I suppose, is as you see him."

"Dammit, Hikaru! Already corrupting the poor girl? Terra!" Ryoko crossed her arms angrily and frowned, noticing that her face was growing hotter out what she assumed was embarrassment. Shaking her head she pointed behind her towards the door. "All right, get out… I need to talk to this boy." With references to the inverted one, she pulled her foot out of a slipper and laid it on his back, pushing him forward slowly. Before Akito had even known it, his legs were suddenly flailing to keep balanced as he started to fall, landing on his stomach.

"Aw, Ryoko is just no fun. See, Ruri, you have to remember that Ryoko will suck all the fun out of a room like mosquitoes on skin." Ryoko glared at her as Ruri smirked softly. "It is all right, Subaru-san. A leader's job is to keep order." She then left, with a dumbfounded Ryoko watching her leave.

Hikaru stuck her tongue out at the tomboy. "You still are no fun." Then she turned to leave, but not without receiving a sudden and random spank from the "fun-sucker". Ryoko then shut the door and walked over to Akito, who was still prone on his stomach on the floor.

"Hey, I didn't hurt you, did I?"

Akito grunted, "No. I'm just waiting for all the blood to get out of my head. What did you really want to talk about?" Ryoko opened her mouth to answer his question, but didn't actually get around to it before it became stuck in this position. Akito had pulled himself into a sitting position, but then decided, apparently, that it made him need to crack his back. So he had himself propped up on hands and feet, his back curved up like the backside of a spoon. Several large snaps were heard and Ryoko hissed in anticipated pain. Instead, Akito sighed and slowly dropped his body so he was laying on his back, crossing his arms behind his head.

"Holy fucking shit, Tenkawa. When the fuck did you get so damn flexible?"

"It's part of the job. There are only so many different positions you can do unless one of you gets flexible, and that ended up being me. I can put both my feet behind my head too, wanna see?" He already had a leg in his hold and was halfway towards forcing the appendage behind his head when Ryoko stopped him, feeling a bit sick.

"HELL no. Knock it off, you're giving me the creeps." But Ryoko noticed that he himself had brought up what she wanted to ask about. His apparent resignation to being always bottom seemed out of place, since Ryoko knew almost as much as anyone how much it pissed Akito off. That, and no one could have not heard that fight between him and his boyfriend about a week or so ago. She would have approached it earlier, but all of the rush at Mugendai and Peaceful Days, not to mention getting used to the newest resident of Yamada Manor and letting her get used to them, had made a significant effect on their time constraints.

"It sounds like you're okay with your position in you guys' relationship. What we all heard sounded differently last week."

"Eavesdropping again?! Dammit, who wasn't doing it this time?"

"Izumi and Ruri, actually. She took her on a tour of the house really quick. Hikaru was going to do it, but she heard you guys yelling at each other and started listening. Oh, and Junny and Yurika, because they were fucking, remember?" Akito nodded slowly, a frown forming on his face. "I know, I saw some of it."

"You voyeuristic pervert!"

"Not my fault Junny had the lights on and Yurika didn't notice he had windows looking into the kitchen!" They fell silent and Ryoko plopped herself on the floor next to where Akito lay down, pulling her knees up and stretching her arms over them so her elbows rested on her knees. After several quiet moments, Ryoko shook her head. "I don't know, I guess it's just weird. I mean, I don't get you guys. Itsuki trusts me, at the very least. If we ever talk about other girls we think are hot or flirt with other girls, it's not a big deal… We all know it's either just appreciation, like when we both think some chick is hot, or a joke, like whenever she goes to Peaceful Days to flirt with the girls."

"For one thing, you need to tell her to knock it off. She makes Mikako almost pass out from embarrassment. But Gai was mostly pissed off about how I flirt with Junny incessantly. That's just a joke, too, you know?"

"But he obviously doesn't see it as one. Itsuki and I have worked out most of our problems, you know? So we can afford to be relaxed about our relationship, be a little more casual. But we both do know that there is still a line between joking and true flirting. When Itsuki makes stupid attempts to get the girls all hot and bothered, that's just a joke. They've figured it out, and I've seen them tease her right back, seeing as how I have to ride with them to work everyday and they HAVE to stop to get coffee or they think they're going to die. That's just all a reoccurring joke, like us telling Jun that he's bi and always will be. But Takasugi's flirting with me to get Iwasaki-san all pissed off was actual flirting; that's why I punched him. And when Mikako started trying to flirt with me whenever Itsuki and I were broken up on Ninlan, that was actual flirting. And you need to tell her that she's not very good, and way too shy."

"Wait… what? Mikako? Sweet, innocent, bubbly, little girl? Same Mikako? Flirted with you on Ninlan?"

"Oh come on, don't give me that."

"But… oh man! Mikako and... you? Aqua, I can't see it! You'd rip her open alive! The thought makes me want to kill people!"

"You never saw it? Ever? I thought it was blatantly obvious! Then again… I never did see it so clearly until I was already going out with Itsuki. But it was really really obvious, how she got all red and tongue-tied whenever I was around… she wanted me, I could see it. She might still, I don't know. I stay away to save her some embarrassment, but instead she gets my girlfriend hitting on her. But I thought it was just as obvious as you flirting with Junny."

"Dammit, Ryoko, it's just a joke! It doesn't mean anything!"

"Don't yell at me, Tenkawa. I'm just saying that it doesn't look like just a joke to Jiro, okay? Terra, don't jump at me!"

There was more silence, but the, after a bit of time, Akito broke it, pulling himself up to lean on his elbows. "It is just a joke though, whether I can see Junny and me fucking or not."

"Can you?"

"I don't know, can you see you and Mikako fucking?"

"Hell no. Mostly because it's Mikako. But hey, if it makes you feel any better, I could have seen us fucking."

"Are you serious?"

"Akito, I chased your ass so closely I figured out you were gay before you even did, dumbass."

"Well, I knew that, I knew you had a thing for me, but you could have seen us… actually…"

"Hardcore, yes, deeper faster harder, oh baby oh, fucking? Yeah, it could've happened."

"Wow. I'm seeing you in a whole different light, Ryoko. I kind of thought it was something like Megumi or Yurika or whatever…"

"Nope."

"So why didn't it happen?"

"Eh. Itsuki came onto the ship, you got off and hooked up with Yamada pretty quickly, and I just eventually hooked up with Itsuki and that was that."

"So you're telling me that, after that, the thought never crossed your mind?"

"Well, not really. After that, I was kind of seeing Mikako flirt with me and it all just went lesbian for me. I'm just generally not interested in guys anymore, you know, so I don't care. That, and I had Itsuki, so it didn't really matter to me."

"Really?"

"Yeah. See, Tenkawa, I think your main problem," she stood up, yet bent down so that she could still see eye to eye with Akito, "is that you need to actually ask yourself how serious you are about you guys' thing. I know I'm serious about Itsuki. Very much so, actually. It's become where I don't look at people flirting with me or people to flirt with as available or anything like that. I just kind of stick with Itsuki. But if you can honestly, at this exact moment, see you and Junny fucking sometime in the new future, not in some other universe or whatever, maybe you aren't as serious as you think."

She stretched her arms out, then shrugged. "Just my two cents, I guess. I just wanted to tell you what I thought about it and all. But think about it, okay?"

Akito nodded thoughtfully, pulling himself into the same position Ryoko had been in moments before. She then left the room, calling out so Hikaru, Ruri, and Akito could all hear her. "Hikaru, Ruri! You better thank me! You win now!"

"SCORE!" shouted Hikaru from her room, where it sounded like she was playing cards with Ruri.

"Aw, Aqua-dammit!" cried Akito, punching his legs. He had been tricked. But it wasn't as if what Ryoko had said was all crap. She actually had some interesting insight on it. Was he really so sure about how serious he was with Gai? Or had his feelings deteriorated since Ninlan, when they had gotten back together? He didn't really know, but he did truly want to find out. Perhaps it would give him the answer as to why Gai didn't trust him. Or did he already have that answer?

'Good Gods, this is complicated.'

~*~

As Rachiku pushed open the door to his older brother's room, he noticed that Ariko was still bent over his desk, holding his head up with a hand as he continued to read the book he had been reading several hours ago. When Rachiku had come in earlier, he had learned that, while it was a mystery novel, it was for his lessons the next day. Rachiku had taken this with the thought of Ariko as a slacker and had left. But this time he actually had a mission for entering once again.

The door squeaked slightly and Rachiku winced. It threw away his stealth factor. Nevertheless, Ariko did not seem to hear it. Rachiku sighed softly and began to take a small step into the room.

"Get out, Rachiku." Rachiku's foot hovered over the silver-colored carpet. He frowned angrily and pulled his foot back to the threshold of his brother's room. "Okaasama told me to tell you it's time for dinner and that you should come down immediately."

"Tell her I'm busy. And I'm not hungry. I can eat later."

"I wouldn't think that very wise, Oniisama."

"Oh?" Ariko placed the card he was using as a bookmark into his place and twisted in his chair, glaring at Rachiku. "What makes you say so?"

"Such hostility. I'm merely saying that it would make Okaasama would not be pleased if you were to skip out on the evening meal."

"And those are such big words for someone as young and naïve as you. And I don't care if she's pleased or not. I have to finish reading this book for tomorrow's tutoring session. I have a test."

Rachiku took a moment to go over Ariko's arguments, searching for any loophole he could exploit. "I'm only a year younger than you, Oniisama."

Ariko twisted back to face his book, opening it and scanning the page for his specific part. "Yet you're acting like Rinzu, Sho, Hisui, and all the other little ones that are too young to know what they're really doing."

"You're not so much different."

"Oh, you really think so?" Ariko could not let that go, twisting around again. "All six of you have sided with 'Kaasan, simply because she's your mother, on her support of state-sanctioned discrimination against Jumpers and their associates. Did you know she wants to tear down the Jump Shuttle Station? Do you even know what that would do to our economy? We would be restricting all Jupiterians and Ninlanders from visit Peaceland. That's two very large nations kept out for a very long time, as it would take some great to put the Jump field back after it would neutralized. And not even all Ninlanders are Jumpers! And you have the nerve to say I don't know how things work in this world? That I'M as young and naïve as you? That I'm no different? Hah! I beg to differ. There's a thing or two you learn when you're first heir for most of your life, and there are others that you learn when you are actually out in the world."

"There couldn't possibly be anything that important in such a horrible place."

"It's not as horrible as you think. And there is something worth learning. That all human beings are capable of both good and evil. Just… some are able to put away evil feelings, or some just shove away good feelings." Ariko fell silent, then turn back to face the wall. "I worry about you, sometimes, Rachiku."

"What? How so?"

"You are only a year younger than me, yet you haven't realized that. I know… it takes many years, even ages for them to discover. But once you know and you encounter someone that does not… You pity them."

"Hah! You, an ignorant fool, pity me?"

"Stop where you are, Rachiku, and think about who the real fool is here. You look at people for their heritage, their race, before who they are. You belittle me for being good friends with a Jupiterian girl when it was her very own brother that wished for a lasting peace between Jupiter and Mars, and unknowingly gave his life for it. You talk down to Oneechan when she is one of the most powerful computer users in the world, not to mention one of the few who have the magical power to heal. Not destroy or hurt others, but to heal them. You hang onto Okaasan's every word about how evil and unnatural Jumpers and their ilk are when it is she who is destroying your humanity, your ability to see past all the faces and symbols and societal opinions and just be friends with someone because they are nice. Your ability to be kind to strangers and gratefully accept their graciousness in return." He turned in his seat again, but was not angry, but Rachiku could sense the honest pity emanating from his older brother. "I may be young, very young, still. But… I may not know everything, but I know enough to know the merits of kindness and throwing away any and all racist, evil things Okaasan has taught us with her motives in place. I just… I wish I could possibly get the rest of you to see. That is why I hate Okaasan, Rachiku. Because she… she has ruined our states of mind. And you can never know until you are on the outside how much you can be destroyed by such a thing."

"You speak as if she is pure evil. She has not killed anyone, nor has she done half of the most evil things ever on this planet."

"But she has shoved away some of her good, or she is confused and believes her evil is truly her good. It is her hate for others and this confusion that has brought about all of this. In teaching you all to be hateful of others, she is hurting more and more than any mass murderer would have. Suffering… Suffering is so much worse than death, Rachiku. Just trust me. I hope you never have to see it."

Rachiku's blue eyes swept over his older brother's pale face. There was some sort of weary solemnity to Ariko's visage, something that did not seem to fit at all. 'Is this the true effects of war?' Rachiku shook his head, humbled by this display of… what? True wisdom? At Ariko's age? Impossible!

'He did say he may be young, but he has learned enough. He… He's been saying that since he came back. I think, though… that this is the first time I've really ever believed it. Maybe… Oneesama and Oniisama truly did benefit from their service in the war. And… Oniisama may have something when he says that hate goes nowhere.' He bowed his head slightly and nodded slowly. "Ne, I'll go tell Okaasama that you are busy and you don't want to be disturbed, okay, Oniisama?"

"She'll disturb me anyway…"

"Yes. I could try though."

Ariko looked over his oldest little brother. His head was bowed, so Ariko could only see the top of his blonde head, his own curly hair obscuring any and all view of his face. A smile crept onto Ariko's face, one that had not been present before Rachiku had knocked on the door. Rachiku had seen what he was trying to say, and offered to help a little. It was major progressive, a huge improvement. 'We may eventually get another on our side.' "Thanks, Rachiku."

"It's okay, Oniisama."

"Rachiku, one more thing."

"Ah?"

"'Niisan is fine. We don't need to remember where we are and our situation all the time. It's sort of depressing. If it is in our common names, how can we escape?"

Rachiku nodded slowly, leaving and closing the door behind him. He leaned against it for a moment, letting his breath out in a sigh. Ariko had asked for Rachiku to recognize him as a normal brother, not one to be looked up to. And after saying all of that… 'Perhaps there is elegance and grace to be worshipped in casualness. It must have been something he learned from being on that warship.' He started at the sound of a voice down on the first floor, and he rushed to answer it, remembering that Ariko was busy and not to be disturbed. He did promise, after all.

~*~

It was such a nice restaurant. Dark and formal, yet light and casual enough to not require very nice dress. That, and it was Italian cuisine, something that appreciated greatly, as it was her favorite and most definitely what she had been craving for. Kaguya was especially grateful, not just because of the food or the setting, but also because of the company. Even if she was becoming more and more of a powerful Jumper with the Jump tests, it was not very often that they got to go out. It had nothing to do with money, Gods no, as both of them had a fortune behind their names. But it was the fact that they were always so busy, all of the time. Erina was always engrossed in negotiations with the UE on the fleet of Nadesico-style battleships they requested months ago, and Kaguya was overseeing the next big production from Asuka. They had not had much of a stay in the limelight since Omoikane had been programmed and placed on the Nadesico, and Kaguya wanted to change that. Also, there was the little duty of keeping sight over Crimson sales in field generators, which of course was peaking. There were few things that Aqua Crimson could have done to up her sales, so while Kaguya was ashamed to admit it, her death did benefit them. Erina would probably have said that all was fair in this sort of weaponry business, but Kaguya wasn't so sure.

Erina was always so quick to throw lives away, in both her actions and attitude. Kaguya knew for a fact that she didn't used to be like this. Not so strong, at least. It was only… Only after the Kakitsubata exploded, and the Nadesico disappeared… only when the Gardenia was under construction that Erina seemed to take a turn around. Erina was ambitious, yes, but she was never as ruthless as Akatsuki's family. His family was so capable of throwing away people like rags and morals like baggage that Kaguya was certain that they really would end up owning the world. However, they just ended up all dead, no matter how it happened. Perhaps… Perhaps it was the message of Nagare's death that had affected Erina so much, enough for her to take after her uncle and cousins' family. That she was in charge of Nergal now, and that it would be ruthless alone that would keep it under control.

Kaguya had to admit; Nergal under Erina's rule was prospering so much more than in previous years, after merging with Asuka, they had no problems in negotiating for computers for battleships. At the same time, it was Erina who had orchestrated the swallow of the Crimson Corporation after Aqua's death that also made it so easy to construct ships, so easy to do it as quickly as possible and rake in the biggest profit. Sales had gone up twenty-five-percent in the past year alone.

Yet… There was something to it that worried Kaguya. Not just Erina's transformation, but rather her apparent lack of change. Erina may have changed on the outside, something that made all of this business easy, but she still cared on the inside. As much as it hurt Kaguya to say it, she had to admit that it pulled her heartstrings to know that Erina still did the things she did, but with a heavy heart. Erina always regretted her actions, something that Kaguya was sure would lead to her demise. 'If you're going to be ruthless, do so with no regrets. Otherwise, it will destroy you, the guilt and desire will clash until you are a sobbing heap on the ground.'

The waitress came by then, asking if there were any drinks or appetizers they would like. Erina took control of the question and ordered a somewhat expensive bottle of wine and breadsticks, light on the seasoning. Kaguya smiled softly as the waitress glanced at Kaguya, wondering why this other woman was saying everything. Kaguya nodded slowly, obediently. Once the near-flustered woman was gone, Kaguya allowed her thoughts to wonder again.

'It is so much like Erina to take control of the situation.' Kaguya smirked inwardly at her own little sense of irony. Erina was ruthless, but more and more she seemed to deem it to Kaguya, asking Kaguya to do things for her. Kaguya knew it was "for her own good", but at the same time, it was for Erina's benefit. Not to say that Erina was selfish. No, there were things that Kaguya had to ask of Erina that were almost, no, equally as ruthless. And not all of those were for Erina's benefit. Some were for Kaguya's, most for both of theirs. All of it was tragic. It truly was. And sometimes… 'Just sometimes, I feel bad about it.'

She shook her head, enticing Erina's attention. "Is something wrong?"

"No, no, it's nothing. I was just thinking." Erina hummed her understanding and went back to searching the menu for her main course. Kaguya was sure she should have been doing the same, but one thing she loved of their relationship was Erina's iron fist. Kaguya wasn't one for submissiveness, but Erina demanded it, yet was not harsh at all to her partners. Kaguya could understand why Inez loved her so, even now. It made it all right for them to use each other for their own purposes, even if one's cause was not as apparent as the other's. She would let Erina choose their dinner, and add some of her own touches to the order to make it her own. It was how it always was with them, no matter what.

She felt something, someone familiar enter the room. Her senses tingled with alertness, and she quickly scanned the room with her eyes, trying to identify the intruder of her thoughts. 'Yurika?' was her first thought, a slight sense of rage beginning to boil at the thought. But it dissipated quickly. Despite any anger for her, Kaguya could identify Yurika at a mile away. They had been close as children, after all, and she would of course remember Yurika, especially after the incident when Kaguya and Erina had slept together when Yurika and Erina were together. There was her aura all over the room, and Kaguya had quickly memorized it there, and from their time as Jump test subjects.

No, it was someone else, someone very familiar. Female. She was with someone. Another female. She glanced to her left and realized that, on the other side of the room, another waitress was seating one Inez Fressange and Maki Izumi at a booth, handing them menus and telling them of the extra drinks not listed in the menu and of the day's specials.

Her alert nerves calmed a bit, enough to keep her on her toes, but not enough to act without being provoked. None of her own professional enemies, as Inez worked as a Jump trainer and scientist for Nergal and Izumi was a waitress at a small restaurant, but still a personal enemy.

No matter what Kaguya would do for Erina, Kaguya knew that she would never have Erina's heart. Not completely. It had already been given away, and Erina still had not been able to take it back. Erina's passion was held by one Inez Fressange, no one truly very special in the business world, but a revolutionary in the field of science. Erina's first love would always be power, but the second would always be the sciences, as it was these that she chose to gain power with. But it was so backwards. Erina was and possibly always would be in love with Inez, but Kaguya held power, more power than Inez. How could Erina love Inez more than her? She allowed Erina her dominance, she obeyed the best she could no matter how much it hurt, and she only asked of very little tasks from her. How could Inez, who didn't even choose her nor did share ideals with, win?

Kaguya hated her, simply put. She was an unneeded role in their professional drama. But it was this drama within itself that made Kaguya pity Izumi. Izumi didn't realize that Inez and Erina would never truly be separated. She did not know of the power as Erina, Inez, and Kaguya did. And it was a shame, as it was only an understanding of power that would lead to an understanding of those who bend to its will, or who wield it.

Kaguya sniffed indignantly and turned her attentions away from them. She understood the power. Possibly even more than Inez. She knew how to bend to it, sure, but also how to wield it, and to direct it to her hands. If it was only one good thing out of all of this, it was what she had learned. 'He who holds the sword rules the world.'

~*~

Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang.

The noise could have woken the dead, but it had barely alarmed Goat Hory. He had been at the security job ever since he quit the military, and his office never changed place. That sound wasn't gunshots either, that was the sound of someone's money being eaten by the vending machines in the lobby. Goat sighed in boredom, reaching for his keys to open up the machine. He wasn't a fool. He knew someone could probably just bang on it and pretend it ate his money, but Goat always asked the year of the last coin inserted to be sure. But as he turned out of his office, gathering the string of keys into his hands, he stopped dead in his tracks. It was, to say the least, the person he had least expected.

Viktor raised his fists once again and threw his weight against the machine, hate glaring behind those yellow spectacles of his. When that didn't help, he growled bestially and backed up, shoving a foot against it as he leaned against the wall. He kicked it several times before letting out a string of curses in his polite, normally calm voice. It was obscene enough to make one of Goat's on eyebrows twitch and his wondered in the back of his mind where Nergal's Head Accountant had learned even half of those things.

Just as Viktor began to make his attempts to murder the machine once again, Goat took a few quick steps forward and wrapped a hand around Viktor's wrist. "I would have thought you have stopped by now. It's only a hundred yen, not the end of the world."

Viktor set his mouth into a firm line and pulled his arm out of Goat's grasp with his violent anger. Goat was calm about it as it seemed that the accountant was pouting as he crossed his arms. He could tell that he was breathing somewhat heavily, that it was his sudden, flaring temper that had caused his loss of energy.

Goat opened up the machine quickly and pulled out the last coin, glancing at the date. It took him a moment to realize what he was doing. It was Viktor, for Christ's sakes. He may have gone nuts against the machine, but Goat knew why. There was a reason Viktor was an accountant, after all. Viktor loved money. But not in the way that most people loved it. He didn't love making it or spending it. Viktor liked saving it. No, that wasn't right either. Viktor didn't like to have it much either. What he appreciated about it… was using it efficiently. Yeah, that was it. Most, if not all, of Viktor's personal objects had been bought at very, very low prices, but they were still reasonable objects that served their purpose. But it reflected Viktor himself perfectly. There was nothing about Viktor that was inefficient. Everything from his appearance to his behavior screamed working perfection. It made Goat wonder if Viktor ever had a life beyond work.

But the task at hand still remained. Goat knew that Viktor wasn't like any of the pesky employees that would try Goat's patience in attempting to steal hundred-yen food. Bad food, at that. Goat wouldn't find himself eating the stuff that came out of that hellish thing. In fact, he was somewhat shocked Viktor would. He replaced the last coin and turned his head to look over his shoulder. "What were you trying to get out?"

"Oh, uh… That." Viktor pointed at this strange looking little bottle. Goat raised his eyebrows at him, then shrugged. Viktor ate yogurt for dinner?

Viktor took the bottle from his larger friend, checking the date on it to make sure it was still edible. Then he opened it and took a sip from the mixture, making a face. "This would be the first and last time I ever eat anything out of this machine."

Goat chuckled. "I wondered why the junk food for dinner."

Viktor recapped the bottle and set it on the floor next to his foot before leaning against the wall. "Oh, so you noticed I haven't gone on home yet."

"Sometimes I wonder if you have a home."

"That wasn't a very nice thing to say."

"I apologize."

"You do have a point though. I must be a workaholic."

"I wouldn't say that."

"I would, and I do. Just as well, though. It's the only way things get done around here, anyway."

"No doubt about that. I don't even think Miss Won or Onikirimaru-san are still here."

"They aren't. Miss Won came into my office a few hours ago to tell me she was taking Onikirimaru-san out for dinner."

"And you hadn't eaten yet?"

"Of course not, I was working out the new parts of our deal with the UE on the new battleship line."

"How is that going, by the way?"

"Horribly." Viktor pulled his glasses off and rubbed his eyes. "They want over seventy ships within the next year, fully prepared with everything, cannons, shields, weapons, computers, the lot. Even for Nergal, that's quite a demand."

"But I expect they'll pay well."

"Yeah, but sometimes I wonder if it's worth it."

"Hm." Goat fell silent. He could tell this honestly troubled Viktor. Viktor really was all about efficiency, and there was no way it could prevail in this situation. Goat glanced at his watch, then at the already darkened halls of the building. "Hey, Viktor, it's eleven already. Let's leave."

"Goat, you know I can't. I need to get this done as soon as possible."

"Forget it. I know for a fact you've been here since six this morning. You need to get out, if only to rejuvenate you. Let's go, I'll even drive you home."

"It's very kind of you to offer, but—"

"Viktor." Goat glared at the accountant as he shut the machine and locked it. "I insist."

Viktor set his mouth into a firm line, which quickly developed into a pout as he quickly crossed his arms. Goat rolled his eyes and stooped down, grabbing the full yogurt bottle and tossing it into the garbage. He then grabbing Viktor's shoulders, pointed him towards the door, and marched him out. "You're going home."

"I hate you, Goat. If I lose my job…"

"You won't. Trust me." Viktor glared at his betraying feet as they walked a steady pace into the parking lot out to Goat's car. This was not what he expected at all when he had come down for something to eat, hunger getting in the way of his concentration.

But it certainly was an improvement.

~*~

Rumiko frowned over the octagonal board, glaring at his own personal chips on the board, strategically placed in respects to Igadosu's chips. He wanted to keep a strong defense up, but after an hour of not seeing any of his pieces getting anything done, Rumiko was ready to take a more offensive approach against the old man's navy game pieces. Neptune 's Victory was a game similar to that of Checkers, Chess, and Chinese checkers in that it required planning in attack, but it also required a bit of luck and knowledge of one's opponent to understand particularly all of the possible venues for winning. Rumiko was sure he knew Igadosu well. His main problem was his concentration on his plan. Igadosu, having not seen Rumiko since the wedding a few weeks ago, was determined to catch up with Rumiko on what obviously was most important to him. Igadosu could tell the boy wasn't getting sleep. His was much more snappy than usual, and circles of purple framed his amber eyes unattractively. Igadosu figured the best they, Megumi and himself, that is, could do was be supportive of Rumiko's search for Mythos's killer. When Igadosu had first arrived on his visit to Carmina to see his favorite student and his wife, Megumi had begged Igadosu to figure out a way to calm Rumiko's obsession with the situation. She swore that their marriage was going down the hole so quickly because of Rumiko's infatuation, and wanted Igadosu to find out why he was so focused on it, and try to convince him to allow the investigators to do their job.

Needless to say, Igadosu was more than ready to comply with Megumi's requests. It had little to do with the fact that it was she that was asking him the favor, but more on the fact that he too wanted the answers to those questions. What better time than to do so when it was requested of you?

"Rumiko, I'm going to be honest with you. I challenged you to this game," Igadosu took a move that appeared rather careless, "because I wanted to find out more about your obsession."

"Gods Above, Meg set you up to this, didn't she? She's been swearing up and down that my involvement isn't healthy."

"Looking at you, I must say I have to agree with her. But no, I'd like to know myself. I'm aware that Mythos was one of your advisor's, but why aren't you just going to allow the authorities to carry out the investigation themselves, rather than have a hand in it so much?"

Rumiko sighed and felt his forehead with a hand, his fingers coursing over the wrinkles his raised brows formed there. "Igadosu, he did so much for me. I could… I never could have been able to become this planet's emperor had it not been for his help. I trusted him more than you know."

"Well, I certainly helped he was the one that helped you the most at becoming emperor. If he hadn't, you may have been forced into doing something you may have regretted because of your connection to them."

Rumiko's hand felt and his glared at his old teacher. "Are you suggesting something, Igadosu?"

"Of course not, Rumiko, don't be ridiculous. Magus, you haven't gotten any sleep lately, have you? Your judgment has been severely hampered with your lack of rest."

Rumiko fell silent. Megumi probably told him about his continuous sleepless nights. He couldn't let himself rest until the murderer had been caught, but was that vow really worth it? Igadosu did have a point; he was so very tired and exhausted. Igadosu wasn't done, however, he supposed.

"Besides, I believe that I can honestly say I know you best as it is. Meg may have some sort of psychic connection to you, but I've got years on her. I think only I can say whether you're killing someone or not."

"And would you say so?"

"Of course not. If I did, I would had you restrained the moment I believed so. And I am a very quick judge of character, Rumiko."

"So narcissistic, Igadosu."

"I have a right to be. I taught you, the ruler of this planet, everything you know. It isn't quite something that humbles you, believe me."

Rumiko took his turn quietly, as the conversation seemed to have died. He felt so much more relaxed in front of Igadosu. Could it have been the fact that Igadosu had been his teacher, or that he had known him the most when he was just another poor mage in a small village in the country? When did his life become so complicated? 'When Fate pulled into it. When I dreamt of her and she appeared on my doorstep.' It was so long ago… wasn't it? Gods… he remembered going into the building he now ran to ask Mythos to turn off the shield that held the Nadesico on the planet. So much happened… And who could have killed him? Who in his home could have changed so much in between those times to have killed his most trusted advisor, one of his good friends, even if Mythos was the old emperor?

Igadosu seemed to have been reading Rumiko's thoughts. "Could it have been someone that was angry with the way Mythos had run the planet?"

Rumiko shook his head. "Why would they bother killing him now, after things have changed?"

Igadosu shrugged, taking his turn, equally carelessly as before. "Maybe they are angry with how it is now, you never know."

"I doubt that. It isn't beneficial to murder the advisor when it is the emperor ruling. They would have come for me if that was the case. No, the authorities said it was most definitely linked to the other murders in the system: Kusakabe Haruki of Jupiter and Aqua Crimson of Earth. If it was just Ninlan's government they were angry with, why kill a Vice Admiral and an industry name?"

"Well, all three were big name people, world leaders. Perhaps the murderer is an ambitious anarchist determined to rid the world of those he deems evil. It is altogether possible, you know."

"Yes, but not probable. Meg and Minato had a conversation a week or so ago. They too speculated on this very same subject. Meg told me that they had figured it was someone who wanted to start something like a system war. That seems very likely to me, for some reason."

"You're right, that does sound more probable. But who would benefit from such a thing?"

"The big Earth corporations who develop weapons."

"Rumiko! You don't think that Yamada-san and Kazamo-san, would do it, would you?"

"I don't know, perhaps."

"They were your students, Rumiko."

"But does that make them innocent? I don't happen to think so."

"You really are going to point fingers at just about anyone. Meg is right. Misumaru-san, Yamada-san, Kazamo-san… All of them people I thought you trusted."

"Igadosu, someone in my home for Megan's and my wedding killed Mythos. I had been deceived. I invited those I trusted and this is the result. I want answers, Igadosu, and I don't care how I have to receive them. I will learn who killed Mythos."

~*~

Yukina glared at her fork in a gloved hand. It had a broken tooth. 'Great. Am I just supposed to kill myself with this thing, and how else am I going to eat?' She glanced at her chicken salad she had bought in the cafeteria she now sat at and lost her appetite. It's not like she wanted to eat it anyway. Why oh why hadn't she made herself a sandwich before leaving home? She could have had some of the roast beef from the night before on bread with a little ketchup… there, her appetite was back. She opened up the salad and opted to just use the damn fork, even if it would make her mouth bleed. She would be careful.

It tasted awful, and Yukina found herself kicking herself once again. She nearly ripped the cap off her bottle of water before taking a long drink from it. Her drowning was interrupted by a timid voice, something she certainly did not expect at her little table for one. "Um, excuse me…"

Yukina blinked and set the bottle down, closing it as she looked over the person she assumed came to be stupid to her. It was a small girl that looked about her age, just shorter. She seemed to be some sort of bookworm, with her slumped shoulders and thick science fiction novel in her arms along with her own lunch box. Her black hair was short, cropped at the chin and very frizzy, almost sticking out, though she attempted to control it with a headband of her own. She wore thin-wire framed glasses that did nothing to hide her small gray eyes, radiating a slight amount of fear at the situation before her. It didn't take Yukina a second to realize what that fear meant. "I don't care, take the chair. No one is sitting in it anyway."

"Oh, no, I'm sorry, miss. I was just going to ask if I, uh, could sit at your table. You see, I usually eat in the library, but the Honor Society Luncheon for that politician is today, and I don't know anyone in here…"

Yukina shrugged, a little in shock. No one ever sat with her. "Sure, I guess… but let me warn you, you might want to look for another table before you sit with me. You don't really want to do that to yourself."

"Do what? Why would I want to look for another table?"

"Because everyone in this room hates me, and I don't want them to hate a shy one like you just by association. Gods, I think I just might take Minato up on her offer to get me into another school next year…"

"I… I hope you don't find me too nosy, but may I ask who Minato is?" The girl sat down slowly, glancing around to see if anyone is looking, as if to test out Yukina's statement.

"Well, if things had been different, she would have been my sister-in-law. But things aren't."

"How would things have to be different?"

"Well, my brother would have to be alive for one thing…" Yukina stabbed at the disgusting salad, trying to not let her temper get the better of her. The girl at her table seemed truly inquisitive, not just looking for something to attack her with. She may even win an ally today, one of the few last days of school.

"Oh, I'm so sorry. How tragic."

"No, it's okay. I'm used to the idea that my big brother was killed."

"Oh my gosh, he wasn't murdered, was he?"

"Not really… he died in the war. He was assassinated."

"Why would they do such a thing?"

"It was during peace talks a while ago. I wasn't there, but Minato was. She told me what happened after I told her I would live with her. He was proposing a lasting peace between Jupiter and Earth, and Jupiter didn't want peace. It still pisses me off. I mean, it was horrible that got Oniichan's best friend to shoot him. I'll never forgive them for that."

"Wow." The girl set her lunchbox and book down and held her head up with her hands, her elbows propped up on the table. She looked genuinely interesting. "Your life is so dramatic. Your older brother, killed by his best friend, and a Jovian no less."

"Hey now, watch what you say about Jupiterians, girlie."

"Why?"

"Because." Yukina set her fork down and pulled off her left glove, then her right, flapping them a bit to air out the sweat that had been beginning to form. Then she allowed the girl to see the back of her right, to see her silver nanocontroller. "I'm Jupiterian. That's why."

"Oh my, I'm so sorry. I didn't even think that you would be one too…"

"Don't be sorry for me. I didn't agree with our government at all, and I still don't the whole obsession over old, stupid anime was just so dumb. And nothing is in ultimatums, though I must admit I did initially hate Minato for having my brother fall for her. But it was where I was born and raised, and there's no changing that."

"You are interesting, miss. I've… I've never met a jumper before, let alone on from Jupiter. My grandfather says that Jumpers are evil, but… You sure aren't evil. You actually seem rather nice."

Yukina looked over the girl's amazed expression, trying to find any hint of mocking. She saw none. 'Well I'll be damned. This girl really does know nothing, yet still wants to learn about me.' "What's you name, girlie?"

"Kahaya Ayame. May I ask your name, miss?"

"I'm Shiratori Yukina."

"May I call you Yukina, Shiratori-san?"

"Sure, Yukina, Yukina-chan, it's all all right with me."

"Okay, Yukina-chan. You're a Jumper… can you really do magic?"

Yukina laughed a little. "Not really. I'm a copy mage, so I'm pretty much useless in the magic field unless I have an Elemental mage with me to copy."

"Did you have Magic School on Jupiter?"

"No, Jupiter didn't even know about magic until Ninlan was discovered. But I was one of the first people not from Ninlan to receive magic lessons in several millennia."

"Wow, really?"

"You bet! But it was only because on the Nadesico. First a refugee, then Assistant Communications Officer."

"You were on a battleship? That battleship? So you were there when they discovered Ninlan?"

"Yes, yes, and yes. I also was the one that set the Elemental Gods free, on accident, might I add."

"Wow, I never imagined you were so amazing when I asked to sit here. What else is interesting about you, Yukina-chan?"

"I don't know… I'm not trying to brag here… Why don't you tell me something about yourself, Ayame-chan?"

Ayame's cheeks began to glow a slight pink. "Oh, no, my life is boring."

"How boring can it be? You're a teenager, for Magus's sakes. We live off drama in our lives."

"Yeah, I guess so. Well… both of my parents died in the war. It's okay though. It happens in times of war, and it's almost like a right of passage, to have your parents die, like when a pet dies, you know?"

"Yeah, I do. My mom died giving birth to me, and my dad died in the war too. Go on."

"Well, so now I live here in Tokyo with my grandfather, and he's very strict and old fashioned, I guess. He… he wouldn't be very happy if he knew I was talking to you, Yukina-chan." Ayame bowed her head, a little ashamed.

Yukina smiled. "You know, Ayame-chan, you remind me of someone."

"Who?"

"My best friend, Ariko. Sure, he's a couple years younger than us, but that never mattered on the Nadesico. But Ariko… he was willing to be my friend even though his mom was a bitch that hated Jumpers of all kinds, even though her first kid and only daughter is one, and an Electronic Fairy, no less…"

"An Electronic Fairy? Surely you don't mean the Royal Family of Peaceland?!"

"Yeah, I do. Ruri is nice, but she needs to get a life, and Ariko is the coolest and nicest boy ever. I think Ariko said that Ruri was staying with some of the Nadesico pilots in Kawasaki for a bit the last time I called him…"

"Just how many Jumpers do you know, anyway?"

"Eh, about seventeen, give or take a head."

"That is a lot. Wow."

"Yeah, well, there were a lot of Jumpers involved with the Nadesico and the stuff that happened on Ninlan, but mostly because of Miss Fressange. She's the one that made those without being born with nanomachines in their blood but injected in later into Jumpers in the first place."

"You know THE Inez Fressange?!? She's biggest name in scientific breakthroughs when it comes to the Martian artifacts and history!"

"Of course I know her. She was the resident doctor on the ship, and my magic teacher."

"Wow. I'm so jealous of how many people you know, Yukina-chan… How many important people that are household names and everything…"

"I never really think about it… Hey, are you doing anything after school besides homework?" When Ayame shook her head, Yukina gave her a thumbs-up. "I'm sure Minato wouldn't mind me bringing a friend home from school."

"Really?"

"Yeah! Minato is always worried about me not making friends at school, even though the year is winding down really quick."

"Why don't you have any friends?"

"Because, I told you. Everyone here hates me. Because of my little silver thingie here, the fact that I was born on Jupiter… and it doesn't help that I have the worst temper in the world."

"I don't think so." Ayame smiled reassuringly at her friend. "You're a very nice person, and very interesting. And I know the difference between arrogant people who are mean and nice people. You're nice, not mean or arrogant. And… I would be honored to be your friend, no matter what Ojiisan says."

Yukina smiled happily and clapped her hands. "Ayame-chan, you really are a LOT like Ariko. You should meet him. But first, you need to meet Minato. She's one of the most important people in my life, after all."

"I'm so excited!"

"Hey, you need to eat. If you're going to go home with me, you need to have energy!"

"Why?"

"Because I always run home, to get out of here!" Ayame smiled and nodded, opening her lunchbox finally and took out her own sandwich, eating it as quickly as she could. Yukina grinned to herself as she tossed her salad in the garbage can a few steps away. Ayame was the first friend she had made since she had left Jupiter and gotten on to the Nadesico. Then, friends were handed to her right and left. She had forgotten how to make friends. But she did it. Someone at her school had not problem with talking to a Jupiterian. And she never knew anyone related to the ship at all, whatsoever! Yukina was so proud of herself. Now she had a reason to be excited about going home other than leaving the school. She couldn't wait for Minato to meet her new friend.

~*~

Uribatake slammed his refrigerator door in frustration. There was barely any food in there to feed a mouse, let alone a man. And he knew he was hungry. Checking the phone book, he dialed up the local pizza place and ordered himself one with everything. He was hungry, after all. He hadn't had the chance to eat lunch that day, since he had been finishing up the new drafts for the missiles of the project. But once he had, he had gone home early and taken a well deserved bath and nap. Now he realized that he had little to no food in the house. It had nothing to do with his money situation. Gai and Itsuki were delightfully paying him for his services to this full-scale development project at Mugendai, something he had never been used to, but was rather enjoying. It was nice to have all of his talents focused on a single goal, rather than spread out thinly.

No, it was because of how busy he had been. No matter, food would be arriving at his house in less than an hour, so he opted to lie on his cheap, bargain couch and watch a little cheap, bargain television.

Flipping channels and laughing at several commercials, he realized why he was sitting on an ugly yellow-green couch and looking at a rather tiny television, and again, it had nothing to do with his money situation. It was his divorce to his wife that had changed the way he lived so much. He wondered how his son was. Okay, so he wasn't really his son, but he had lived with the kid for all his life. He felt like the kid's father, but also not. He was never much of a good father. He never knew why. He just didn't really feel much for the kid. Was that so bad? He somehow felt so.

He had been obsessed in his days before the Nadesico. He would have given anything for his situation now then. No wife, no kid, and a good job to boot. A bachelor's life that no woman would say no to interrupt for a moment. But now that he had achieved it, all he wanted was his life before. He missed Ayuko and her son. Or did he just miss having someone to talk to, or even just yell at, at home without the effort of calling someone?

Uribatake had seen his wife in a new light after Hikaru had told him that friends and lovers were different things. It had never occurred to him that they had never been boyfriend and girlfriend or husband and wife, but rather friends with benefit the entire time. But that was what led to the divorce, his realization that Hikaru was right, and he never really did love his wife, even though they were married. So they let themselves out. But Uribatake was beginning to regret it.

It wasn't the lack of sex or anything in his life he really missed. Well, he missed it, but not all the time. It was having someone else in his home where he could easily talk to them. There were so many times when Uribatake wanted to ask someone to come and live with him. He envied Hikaru's situation. Hikaru shared her room and living space with tons of people. She always had someone to talk to, even in the wee hours of the morning. He had himself. But it wasn't a hostile envy he held, just one he wanted to share. There were so many times when he wanted to ask someone, anyone to stay with him, yes, but there were so many times within those that Hikaru's face passed through his mind.

It wouldn't have to be a big deal. She had lived with a man before. And they were just friends; it wasn't as if they were dating or anything anyway. But Uribatake knew she lived with her very best friends, and he never wanted to take that away.

Uribatake didn't know what his thing was with Hikaru. He certainly liked her. He knew she liked him. But yet here they were, pussy-footing around like school-kids. There were both adults, and while Hikaru was ten years younger than he, they were both mature when it came to this sort of thing. So why weren't they going out already?!

Another face crossed Uribatake's mind, and he became angry quickly. Because there was another man Hikaru was close to, though not as close to him as she was to Uribatake. Viktor Bros. That damned accountant was out to lead Hikaru away right when Uribatake had her coming for him. He knew that he had a thing for her while they were on Ninlan, almost taking advantage of her depression to become closer to her. But Uribatake wasn't going to let him get any closer. Hikaru was his friend first, and they shared so much more than she, an artist, could share with that number-obsessed twit.

A doorbell sound interrupted his thoughts. He got up, switched off the TV, and grabbed his money. He opened the door to meet the pizza man, taking the hot box from him and handing him the money. He kicked the door shut and went to go set the pizza on the card table that served as his dining room table for now. He opened the box and pulled out a piece of pizza, setting it on a plastic plate he had out. With his first bite, he found his mind wondering.

Though, he really had no say in what Hikaru was interested in. Hikaru may have seen Viktor as boyfriend material while Uribatake was friend material. Nothing he could do would change that. It may have even begin to alienate her away from him. He didn't want that. He was sure he didn't want that. Wasn't he?

"Of course I'm sure! Hikaru is the best woman I ever had a thing for!" he said aloud, realizing that it seemed he was just trying to reassure himself. Thing was, he was in fact becoming closer to another business woman himself. It didn't help that he saw her nearly everyday. He just never seemed to realize exactly how beautiful and intelligent Minato really was until recently.

Minato reminded him greatly of his wife. She was sexy, maternal, professional, the whole package. He was becoming more and more attracted to her everyday that went by. And she was closer to his age, so he didn't feel like he was robbing a cradle as much as he did when it came to Hikaru. And Yukina was a cute kid, and he had no problem with interacting with her.

But the thought of chasing Minato made him wonder if it wouldn't have been the same as with his wife, turning into a friends-with-benefits thing. He wasn't truly satisfied with that, not the way he wanted to be. If Minato reminded him so much of his wife and he wanted to go after her, why did he even bother getting a divorce in the first place?

Wanting Minato made him feel guilty. He had harbored a candle for Hikaru since before the war was over. It almost felt as if they were dating, even though they weren't. They just had a kiss and a couple dances. That's all. Nothing big. Why was he even bothering with being so slow this time, anyway? That wasn't his style. Did it mean something?

"I'm not even going to think about this anymore," he muttered, taking a bite of his pizza. His mind was going down roads he wasn't ready to go down.

Maybe his attraction to Minato was the same sort of thing as Hikaru's attraction to Viktor. She may have seen Viktor as boyfriend material and Uribatake as friend material. Did Uribatake reciprocate, with Minato being the girlfriend and Hikaru the friend?

'No.' If there was one thing Uribatake was sure about, it was how he felt about the redhead. Minato may have just led to some sort of one-night-stand or a short fling, but that was all. If he wanted seriousness, he knew where he was going to get it. Whether he liked it or not, he was seriously into Hikaru, no matter how young she was or how much she just thought of him as a friend. And he wasn't going to let Viktor win if Uribatake had the chance. And he would be focused and not let vixens like Minato change his mind. He had a goal. And her name was Amano Hikaru.

~*~

Ruri squinted at the glowing screen, glaring at it, even. This was her seventh attempt to reconnect, and she was regretting setting up such a powerful firewall on Omoikane. There seemed to be no way for her to reach him from the unit in front of her.

"ACCESS DENIED."

"Damn it!" she shouted, pushing the off button on the monitor angrily, crossing her arms. It may have been childish, but she had been at attempting to hack Omoikane to leave him a message for hours. Her frustration level had finally been broken.

"Did I just hear you swear, Ruri-chan?" Ruri saw Akito standing in the doorway of the study and blushed, turning her face away so he couldn't see her. "I… I'm sorry. It was wrong."

"Nothing to be sorry about. Just kind of in shock, I guess. What could have possibly inspired so much anger to get you to swear, you piece of marble?" Ruri smiled slightly and blushed deeper. She may have been very close to Yurika, and she may have lived in the same room as Hikaru, but Akito always seemed to make her feel uncomfortable, but still in a good way. She still wasn't all that sure if he just creeped her out, yet entertained her at the same time, or if she had some sort of school-girl crush on him. Either way, she was trying her hardest to get it out. Neither was very healthy at all.

"I was trying to contact Omoikane through this computer, but it apparently cannot get through my firewalls. I was a little too paranoid for my own good, it would seem. I cannot get into him."

"I'm sorry. Is there any other way?"

"I'm afraid not. Omoikane is affected only by nanomachine computer consoles, and I created his firewalls to block everyone out on the outside. I just never thought I would be on the outside trying to get in."

"Why do you need to contact him in the first place, Ruri?"

"Well… I don't exactly know how to put this lightly with the least amount of pain, but… I miss him. He is my best friend, after all. But… I never knew being so far from him would ever be so painful. I want him to speak to me, even if he just says 'Hello, Ruri-sama,' like he always does."

Akito grew concerned for the girl, grabbing the other computer chair and placing it near hers and sitting in it. "When was the last time you were away from him?"

Ruri drew a blank. Omoikane had been there always when she was in Peaceland, and always ready to be contacted. On the Nadesico and on Ninlan, he was never very far away. Even during her training he was there. And before that… "I was five."

"God of Water, girl! If anything, I'd say the two of you needed a break! That's nine years of nonstop Omoikane time. Good God, I don't think I could ever take that much of anyone!"

Ruri fell silent to Akito's burst. She had never realized it had been so long. Sure, there were those few weeks when Omoikane had fallen down because of his fear of Akatsuki, but that entire time was full of her attempts to big him back up. Now, she was just trying to relax, but she had nothing to keep her mind occupied. She really hadn't been so far from Omoikane for so long. And it had been merely a week since she had begun staying at Yamada Manor, a week since she had seen Omoikane or heard his childish, mechanical voice. She missed him terribly. All she wanted to do was see him, or feel his familiar pulses of information and electricity.

"No… It's been too long and too continuous for a break, I think." Ruri looked back up at Akito, feeling an ache behind her eyes. "Tenkawa-san, I'm not dependent, am I?"

"Oh, Aqua… Come here, Ruri." Akito held his arms out and Ruri hesitated, remembering how nicely uncomfortable she felt around him. But then she felt a sense of dread, almost emptiness and she felt in her mind for Omoikane once again. Without the connection, with miles upon miles separating them, it was impossible. It took little to no time; Ruri accepted this affection readily, perching herself on his knees as she leaned against his chest, around her arms around his neck.

Akito squeezed her body hard, yet gently, as if afraid to hurt her, but wanting to make her know he was there for her. "I'm gonna be honest with you, Ruri. It sounds as if you just might be." Ruri's eyes widened, then she buried her face into the crook of Akito's shoulder and neck, squeezing her pale lids tight, angry at herself. "Hey now, don't get too upset. It's not always a bad thing, you know. Especially when you depend on friends that are always there, like Omoikane. And after nine years with no break, I'd be dependent too, you know? But the thing about being dependent on someone that hurts the most is when they aren't there when you need them, like now. It's not his fault."

"No, I told him not to come. It is mine."

"Don't worry about that. You know that you are now, don't you? So now you can fix it." Ruri sat up quite abruptly, frowning as she glanced at her lap. She didn't want to see herself as dependent on anyone, but she knew that all people needed someone like that. Even if Omoikane was just a computer, just a machine, Ruri couldn't bring herself to want to distance herself away from him. Becoming less dependent on him would require their separation for even longer. She knew it would have been for the best, a little agony for a lot of good, but she didn't think she wanted that. At all. What was wrong with being dependent on her best friend?

"I will always be there for you, Ruri-sama." Ruri's eyes twitched at the childish, mechanical voice in her head. "O… Omoikane?" No answer. She let her eyelids droop as the electrical lights passed over them. She felt for Omoikane in her head or around her, anywhere. He wasn't there. She had imagined it. But it was so real, as if he had really said it. Perhaps he had in the past. Or when she was sleeping. But it reassured her that Akito was wrong, and she suddenly stood.

"R… Ruri, you looked like you were about to pass out. Are you okay?" Ruri nodded, wrapping her arms around herself as a shudder rocked her body. "Yes. I just… I thought I felt Omoikane reconnect to me, and I had to check to be sure. But I did hear him say something."

"What?"

Ruri gave a small smile. "That he would always be there for me. Just like he always had. You say it could be a bad thing to be dependent, and until a moment ago, I would have believed it. But… Omoikane's words are true. He always will be there. He is mine. It is safe and healthy to be dependent on that which has always proven true. I need him as he needs me. I realize that now. Just like all people need others."

"But Ruri… Omoikane is a computer."

"He is just as aware of the world as you or me. He is true artificial intelligence. Created by man, yet equal with him. Equal with me, his controller. He depends on me, and I have grown to depend on him. I… I think that we are as close as another other friendship could ever be."

"That's very… profound, Ruri. I never imagined that being so dedicated to someone could possibly grow such a relationship."

"I never imagined it would be so beneficial."

"Are you… okay now?"

"Yes. I'm much better. I will continue to try to reach him the best I can, no matter what it takes." Akito nodded and stood, moving his chair back to its original spot. He left the office, yet stayed in the library as he heard the girl begin typing at light speed.

Even Ruri and Omoikane, a girl and a computer, had a better relationship than Gai and Akito. Ruri and Omoikane understood each other and could rely on each other no matter what happened. Akito was certainly jealous. Ruri and Omoikane were not even a couple, yet they had achieved such a great connection that would, never, ever be severed. Akito, like anyone else, wished for an undying love and connection like that, but it appeared that it would never, ever happen. Not the way that he and Gai could never agree.

~*~

Ariko never went into his sister's room without permission. But after a week and no sign of Omoikane, Ariko was beginning to worry. Ariko knew that Omoikane was just a computer, but he was a very active one, and Ariko also knew that Omoikane could be ripping up Ruri's room in a rage if he didn't check on him. But when he opened the door, he saw no carnage, something that calmed him. But he did see Omoikane sitting on his sister's bed, which was gaining a small layer of dust from her week of not sleeping in it. He was not capable of crying, but he was slumped over, looking as sad as a robot could be without the capability of crying. Ariko sighed deeply and closed the door again, leaning against it. Things had been suddenly going well since he had finally gotten through to Rachiku, but he felt guilty. Omoikane was in his care and he didn't even take good care of him. Ruri would be disappointed in him. He reopened the door and stepped inside, closing it behind him. "Hello, Omoikane, long time, no see."

"Why hasn't she come back yet, Ariko?" His childish, mechanical voice was very down, Ariko could tell. He wasn't Ruri, and Omoikane knew that. Ariko clenched his teeth and vowed to help anyway. "I don't know, maybe she's having a good time."

Omoikane's shoulders slumped lower and he wrapped his arms around himself tighter. 'Okay, that was the wrong thing to say. I can't work this thing, why didn't Ruri take him with her?'

"I want her to come home. I want her to come back. Make her come back, Ariko."

"I can't do that, Omoikane. It was her choice to leave. I can't just order her around."

"Please!" Omoikane's head twisted around, and though his eyes were blank, they seemed to radiate some sort of fear, a loneliness that was more than sheer distance between people. "Call her, anything! I can feel her poking at my firewall and I can't do anything about it. I can't let her in, I can't speak to her, I can't see her, anything. I'm desperate, Ariko!" He wrapped his arms even tighter around himself and winced, as if he was in great pain.

Ariko had never seen anything like it. Omoikane looked as if he was dying without her. For all he knew, he could have been. Ariko knew Omoikane was in deep, deep love with his older sister, and while Omoikane was still a machine, the one thing Uribatake had taught Ariko was that machines feel as well as humans. It was with this thought that Ariko rushed to Ruri's phone, looked up Tenkawa Akito in her address book, and dialed the number as fast as he could.

It rang once before a male voice returned, "Moshi-moshi?" He sighed in relief. It really was Akito. "Tenkawa-san, This is Ariko. Omoikane needs to talk to Oneechan right away."

"Wow, that sure was fast. Hold on just a second." There was shuffling and some muffled speaking on the other end before Ariko heard his sister's voice. "Omoikane?" Ariko handed Omoikane the phone, placing it in his hands himself.

Omoikane slowly held the phone up to his rubber ear and spoke. "Ruri-sama?" Ariko sat down next to Omoikane and held his ear next to the earpiece, so he could hear traces of the conversation. If he was going to help Omoikane, he at least wanted to know what was going on.

"Oh Gods, Omoikane, do you know how long I've been trying to contact you? Why didn't you let your firewall down for me? Didn't you know it was me?"

"Yes, of course I did, Ruri-sama. But I couldn't. The program wouldn't let me."

"I'm such an idiot."

"No, you're not Ruri-sama." Ariko tapped Omoiakne on the head. "Ask her why she didn't just call," he hissed.

"I heard that, Ariko. I suppose that it would have been the sensible thing to do. But… I wanted to feel him."

"Come again?"

"See, Ariko, when Ruri and I are connected, not only is it like we are one person, but we can feel each other's sense as well."

"Quite an exhilarating experience."

"Ew. Oneechan, aren't you only fourteen?"

"Omoikane, can you get my little brother out of the room? He is rude."

"Don't worry, I'm going." Ariko stood and left, making sure the door was closed before bolting to his room and picking up the phone, covering the mouthpiece with a hand.

"Why were you trying to connect to me, Ruri-sama?"

"I missed you, Omoikane. Very much."

"I missed you too. I was so sad that you weren't here."

"I'm sorry for all of this, Omoikane. I should have brought you with me. I haven't ever been without you, and Tenkawa-san has helped me realize that I may be a bit dependent on you."

"Oh no! I'm so sorry, Ruri-sama!"

"It's all right. It makes us that much stronger together, does it not, Omoikane?"

"I suppose so, Ruri-sama…"

"Well, I suppose I could rewrite from here it so that only I can get into it, but it will be difficult."

"I have faith in you, Ruri-sama."

"Well, it's not the rewriting that is the problem, but figuring out how to keep Lapis out. I know she has been itching to hack you ever since I hacked Nergal. I will never let that happen."

"Ruri-sama, is that why you put up the firewall?"

"Yes."

"Why did you keep yourself out then?"

"Because I know she can stop me. Whether I want to admit it or not, she's more talented than I, due to her young training to be better than me. It is her purpose of creation to be better than me, Omoikane, and I could never risk her getting to you. Ever."

"Hehe. That makes me so happy, Ruri-sama."

"It should. You are mine, after all, and I won't allow anyone posing as me attempt to claim you."

"Thank you, Ruri-sama."

"You're very welcome."

"I love you, Ruri-sama. When are you coming home?"

"I don't know, Omoikane."

"Please come home."

"I'd love to, Omoikane, but I can't trust her."

"I'm sorry."

"It's all right. I'm going to start the rewrite now. Are you ready?"

"Yes!"

"Please lower your wall for me to get in. This is a direct order."

"…Done."

"Give me a few moments." There was a quick clattering on the other line, and Ariko hung up the phone in his room. Ruri and Omoikane were so sickeningly sweet, even Ariko wanted to throw up. Or call Yukina. Because he did, after all, have a teensy little crush on her. She knew it. But they were still friends. He hoped that one day they could be like Ruri and Omoikane, able to depend on each other. Ruri and Omoikane were so mature in their relationship, and they weren't even anything at all. It was their dedication to each other that many adults attempted to forge with marriage or whatnot. Ruri really was old for her age. She may have been fourteen, but she had the intelligence of one looking at a Doctorate degree, not to mention her time on the ship had made her grow up extremely fast, and well at the same time. Ariko, like Akito, was jealous, but only because Ruri was able to become an adult much more quickly than he ever would in this place. And Ruri had left.

Ariko, too, wanted to go. He wanted to see Yukina. He wanted to bring Omoikane to Ruri to make them both happy. He wanted to see Uribatake-san. He wanted to see Haruka-san. All of them. But he knew that he couldn't just go. While it may have been in his benefit for maturity, he could never do that. Not to his parents. Because, while Ruri may not have seen them as her parents after being raised by holograms and her computer trainers, Ariko had been born and raised in their care. They were his parents. He had learned to honor their wishes, even if he didn't really want to uphold his mother's. His father had done nothing to him, and if he was going to leave, he was most definitely going to ask his father first.

And who knows? He probably could try to get Rachiku out as well. After all, Rachiku had done some sort of switch, and it could solidify it. He would have to ask his father once Ruri came home.

Ariko suddenly felt like Omoikane, wanting her home NOW.

~*~

"Job, job, job… House, house, house…"

"Junny, just what the fuck are you doing?"

"Classifieds, man."

"Job, I get that… You and Hikaru are the two laziest fucks this side of the moon, but house?"

"Wow, Tenkawa, you certainly have let the f-bomb drop. Just got done talking to Ruri?"

Akito leaning against the doorframe, nodded, spitting and wiping the drool off his chin. Jun giggled, the sipped his coffee, reading the next ad in the paper. He was silent as he used a red marker to circle another one, humming some song to himself as he twiddled the marker and played a bit with his ring, rotating it. It took only about a minute for Akito to get violent, and Jun could see it from a mile away. He pulled the paper out of Akito's way as his hands slapped the table's surface, his face mere inches away from Jun's as he leaned over it.

"If you don't tell me what's going on right now I will bite your nose off."

"Flamma! Hikaru is right, you do get pissy when you're in a relationship. Ever considered becoming permanently single?"

"Don't give me a lecture, Junny. Talk. Why do you want to move out?"

"Why is it a problem?"

"Don't pick fights, either."

"I'm not picking, you're jumping."

"I am not!"

"Akito." Akito glared at Jun, and Jun stared back calmly. Finally Akito's face fell slowly and he sat down in the chair across from Jun's. "Okay, I was. I'm sorry. Ruri just told me that I was wrong about trying to help her fix her life and here you are trying to move out!"

"Fix her life?"

"She's grown dependent on Omoikane."

"Good for her! That's adorable, don't you think?"

"No, it's sad!"

"How is it sad?"

"Someone shouldn't be dependent on someone like that, where they miss them that much, you know?"

"Are you sure you know what love is, Akito?" Jun set down everything on the table and pulled the band off his finger, holding it up for Akito to see. "I don't show this off, but I will now. This is what love is. Not an expensive, pretty ring, but dependency. If you can't depend on him, I would think it hard to believe you're really in love. I depend on Yurika, and that's why I accepted her offer to get married."

"Yet you're looking for a job."

"Yes, I don't want to have to depend on her financially. Accidents can happen. Problems can come up."

"Don't you think that's why you shouldn't depend on someone emotionally, depending on someone you love? Because accidents and problems happen?"

"No, it's because of your faith that those things won't happen. And that's also why I'm looking for a house. Half the problem last time was the fact that we had lived with her dad the whole time. We didn't have any chance to really be engaged, on our own, you know? I don't want that to happen this time."

"And the other half was me, of course. But you've certainly… put a lot of thought into this."

"I didn't expect the whole engagement thing, but let's just say I've learned from my mistakes from before. We were both in the Academy still, after all. Now she's a waitress and a Jump subject and I'm, as you so eloquently put it, a lazy fuck sitting around the house. I need a job."

"What sort of thing are you looking for?"

"Something I can actually do."

"Like…?"

"Oh, lots of things… Dishwashing, teaching lower grade Literature, writing song lyrics… I really want to do that last one. I found a couple of bands that want a songwriter part-time, and some of them look like I might actually be able to work with."

"Wow. Junny in a band. You really did have a motive for growing out the old mop, huh?"

"Come off it, Akito. I don't play anything; do I look like Itsuki to you? No, I'll be like the recording techie guys. You know?"

"Yeah. That sounds really cool though. Think you could do it?"

"Yeah, I even have a couple made up for my portfolio."

"Aqua, you have put a lot of thought into this."

"I told you, I don't want to make the same mistakes as last time. Wow… Damn, this is cheap."

"Let me see." Akito got up, walked around the table, and leaned over Jun's shoulder to see the house that he pointed at with his red marker. "Holy shit, Junny. Circle it and call them, now. That won't last long. And it's an actual house, too."

"Yeah, I was just expecting some apartment or something."

"It's kind of in a bad part of Tokyo , though, don't you think?"

"That's probably why it's so cheap."

"Maybe you shouldn't circle it, Junny…"

"Don't be paranoid, Akito. We're not living there forever, just until we can afford a nicer place. And trust me, between Yurika and me, no one would dare try to break in. Yurika would give them some sort of aneurism and I'd probably burn 'em up to a crisp. We'd call it self-defense and it would be great."

"Now I'm scared. Your plans are made so quick… You already know how to protect your woman in that situation."

"I had no idea what was going on last time. Now nothing will escape my scrutiny. And she kind of depends on me to protect her, anyway. She's into that, you know."

"Yeah, the whole fairy tale knight bullshit. I bet she can't wait to take your name, though."

"Yeah… something about that…"

"What, she's not going to?"

"No. My request, actually. My family… It's not anything I want to remember. Not anything I want to think of when I'm with her. There's nothing wrong with hers though… so I'm taking her name."

"Holy shit, you wear such a frilly skirt in this relationship."

"Thanks so much, Akito."

"Sorry. But seriously… You're the one without the job, the one who was proposed to, the one with the ring, and now you're going to be… 'Misumaru Jun.' That doesn't flow like 'Aoi Jun.'"

"Maybe not, but I wanted to disown myself from my family for a while anyway. Adopting her name and taking up her family seems more appropriate."

"Don't you think that Ryoko will be sad, though?"

"No. And it's not like I'm 'Subaru Jun' anyway, otherwise I could see where she would be sad or upset. Besides, Yurika's made a request for Ryoko to be her Maiden Assist."

"You're kidding me, right?"

"No, she said that Ryoko was like her best friend, the only one that was honest to her all the time, yet still was nice and listened. I think you really pissed her off, Akito."

"Doesn't matter. But wouldn't she want her father to give her away, not Ryoko?"

"No, she liked how Megumi and Rumiko's wedding went. She wants it done at the Pentakami Church in Tokyo ."

"There's a Pentakami Church in Tokyo ?"

"Yeah. Hikaru and I visit it all the time. You know, when we're busy being lazy fucks and all."

"Look, I'm sorry! Stop kicking me in the ass with my own remark, okay?"

"Just teasing, Akito. No, it's not as nice as the one in Carmina, of course, but we agreed that we would have Flamma and Magus watching when we had the ceremony. They may just be clods of retrospect particles, but they still are responsive and stuff."

"Yeah, I get what you're saying. Any other plans you guys have made? Sticking with the colors?"

"Yeah, she's going to be in silver and I'm going to be in red, as expected. I happen to love the color, though, so I have no problem."

"That's cool."

"Oh, and uh… I haven't asked you yet, but…"

"Hm?"

"How would you feel about being my, uh… Fellow Assist?"

"You mean… you want me to give you away?"

"Well… yeah. That is what I mean. You're my very best friend, Akito. Sure, we've had our differences, and we've fought a little and you've flirted incessantly with me… But we're still close and all, you know?"

"Yeah… I know. Absolutely. I'd be honored to give you away, Junny. I'd trust you with my life."

"I'm doing the same here… I'm letting you give consent as to whether I should be with her or not."

"Oh, is that really the job of the Assists? Well, then…"

"Akito!"

"Just kidding. Yeah, I'll smooch with Ryoko to show everyone I want you and Yurika together. Wow, Pentakami rituals are wacky."

"That's what I said."

"…When are you going to move out?"

"Trying to kick me and Yurika out already, Akito?"

"No… I just want to know how much longer before I have to actually pick up a phone or hop on my bike to talk to or see my best buddy."

"Aw, Akito… If it'll make you feel better, that guest house will probably always be mine."

"Oh it will, trust me. I can't even imagine anyone but you living there. I don't care what I have to do to leave it untainted from others or cleaners. I'll be bottom forever if I have to."

"I'm touched, Akito."

"Let me say in advance without crying that I'll miss you, because I will be bawling when you do leave."

"I might too. I can barely remember living on Earth and not in my hole over there. Not with you guys. I never really had friends until you guys, you know?"

"I know. It's tragic how someone as nice and cute as you had no friends when you were in school. But I didn't either, so I guess it all works out."

"But I bet I can guess why."

"Try me."

"You can be really bitchy sometimes, man."

"Fuck you too, Junny."

"But I want you to lock lips with my stepsister!"

"Who, by the way, informed me a couple days ago that we could have fucked."

"I don't need that mental image! EW! My gay best friend and my gay stepsister. Wait, that wouldn't happen. What am I talking about?"

"I don't know either. Anyway, here's the phone, call them."

"I thought you were going to cry when I leave!"

"Yeah, but you want that place right? Call them. And call those working places you circled too. Want me to sit here and help a bit?"

"…If you could."

"Sure. I know you're shy."

"Deathly so."

"Wallflower."

"Geek."

"I love you Junny."

"Shh, it's ringing. Um, hello, my name is Aoi Jun and I've seen your advertisement to sell your house, and I'm very interested…"

~*~

TBC…

~*~

A/N: So, stuff got done, I guess. Woo. ^^ This has got to be the longest chapter I've spit out in a long time… and this one was sort of hard. But, as you noticed, we're developing some rather random things that could or could not attribute to plot. Am I saying anything? No… ^^ But trust me, the turning point is coming up sooner and sooner. So how badly did it go? I wasn't particularly happy with the last scene, but it got it's just done. I got the point across, that Jun and Yurika are going to move out soon. Anyway, since we got that out, I'll let you know right now that I've kind of been procrastinating on my schoolwork over this break, so I should really go now. Hope you enjoyed it and keep your eyes out for another chapter sometime in the future! (Probably not immensely soon, though. APs are coming up.) Byiee! ^^


	26. Juggling plots to lead to one moment

A/N: Wow, this was quick. Not much to say… Other than I don't think I will be doing much in these author's notes anymore. Maybe warn you guys about a lack of updating in a while, but I'll let you guys recap yourselves… mostly because I don't want to give away stuff. Besides, I got no reviews in between these two chapters, so there's nothing to answer this time, at least. Anyway, we're coming closer to the turning point, and I want you guys to be shocked when it happens. But remember, things that may not seem like plot, actually probably are. Oh, and the song that Jun originally wrote and had Izumi look over in this chapter? "Thousand Words". You've all heard it by now.

~*~

Itsuki stretched her arms up as high as she could, sighing at the feel of her clenched muscles finally relaxing a bit in another position. She rolled her head on her shoulder, reveling in the loosened ball just between her shoulder blades. Then, she pulled off the uncomfortable red jacket, slinging it on her desk chair as she headed to the door conjoining her office to her associate's, if anyone would dare to relate them together that way. "Hey, Jiro, I'm going to head down to get something to eat, do you want anything, or do you want to come, or what?"

Gai had a hand threaded into his eternally messy hair, which was actually pulled back today, though it was already starting to fall out. Like Itsuki, he had quickly shed the stupid jacket that he had to wear to get past reception without any leers or comments, but he certainly wasn't going to leave the floor without it, unlike his near-sister. She had no problem walking around the building in the teeny little gray dress, and figured when they came in that morning that she had plans to drop by Security to see Ryoko. She normally did anyway. But he was busy pouring over the new plans that were in the inbox, courtesy of Uribatake Seiya. He hadn't heard a word Itsuki said.

"Hey? Jiro? Are you listening to me?" When it become obvious that he wasn't, Itsuki pouted, pushed a strand of violet hair behind her ear, and marched up to his mahogany desk, slapping both hands on it and bending down so that she could see him a little better. What she hadn't realized was that, when he looked up, he would probably have yet another image of her to burn from his memory: the line of cleavage the dress showed at this angle.

He glanced up for a moment, completely engrossed and shook his head. "I'm sorry, Minato, I didn't call you. You could check in with Itsuki, maybe it was her." Itsuki giggled, standing up straight and crossing her arms over her chest. "Jiro, I doubt I'll ever have boobs as big as Minato's."

"That never happened. This little conversation? I wasn't here." She giggled again, then looked over his shoulder. "I guess you weren't. Still looking those over? I thought we already told him it was okay and to start the next prototype immediately."

"Yes, we did, but I wanted to look it over a bit more. Just to make sure we're really developing the whole thing at once, instead of in pieces."

"We are. Magus, if anyone needs a break, it's you." Itsuki walked behind his chair and placed her hands on his shoulder muscles, massaging them hardly, enough to get him to sit up and not look at those infernal blueprints anymore. "You work too damn hard." She titled her head, watching his profile as her hair tumbled over her shoulder, obscuring her face from anyone else but him.

"We both work pretty hard, Itsuki."

"I suppose so… Maybe we should look into taking a vacation soon. Wouldn't that be nice? Just some days to lie around the house like Hikaru and Junny do… though Junny's looking into moving out and getting a job and all that…"

"Yeah… maybe we should wait until they actually do. I'd hate to be here when they leave. That guest house will never be an actual guest house ever again."

"It sure won't. But that'll be a good amount of time. We should at least wait for our vacation until after Akito's off his." Gai nodded slowly, solemnly, and Itsuki knew she had hit a bad subject. She knew that it was a bad subject to begin with. But they were never alone anymore, and chances to talk the way they used to were rare, and this was one of those times. She sighed, glancing up at the boring gray and white ceiling panels. "You used to be so happy with him, but not anymore. What happened, and when? I never even saw it coming… Hikaru, I'm sure, did, but I feel guilty, neglecting you a bit, Jiro."

Gai said nothing, but rather closed his eyes, bowing his head a bit. He looked sort of angry, but not at her. She stopped rubbing his shoulders and allowed her bare arms to slip around his neck, setting herself down onto her knees behind his chair. "It can't just be the sex, you know… I may be a lesbian, but it's usually a nice gesture to switch off once in a while. Akito would give his left hand to top you, just once, you know. It can't be too much of a problem, I wouldn't think."

"In the past, he also would have given his left hand to get half the girls chasing him off his back." He pushed Itsuki's arms away as he stood from the rolling chair and walked over to the window, leaning against a steel bar separating the panes of glass. He watched the sun glint off the other building around theirs. Itsuki did not make a move, but rather watched him from her crouch on the floor next to his desk, concerned. She did not say a word, allowing Gai to figure out his thoughts on his own, what he wanted to say. Finally, he spoke.

"Akito… he doesn't like being the object of affections, not the affections of people he doesn't care about. That's why he always ran from the girls on the Nadesico, you know? He… he resents those Martian pheromones of his, those things that attract so many people to him. He only wants that sort of closeness with those he chooses. He doesn't just accept attraction and affection blindly. I've known him longer than anyone, except for Yurika and maybe Jun. So I would know the most about him, right? I've been the closest to him in our time. And I know he doesn't play love games. He doesn't flirt around for fun like you do, Itsuki. So," Gai pulled his eyes away from the window and pointed them at Itsuki, who had begun to stand finally, glaring at her with an anger that was once again just directed at the world and not her, "why the hell did he start playing them with Jun?!"

"Oh, Jiro…"

"Whether I want to admit it or not, I know one thing. Akito feels something for Jun. I KNOW it. There's no other reason for Akito to flirt with him, get so close to him, hug him and kiss him and the like." Gai shook his head, then leaned it against his arm on the steel bar at the window. "I know you flirt around for fun, and that's just your social nature, Itsuki. You want to surround yourself with people, those that are fun and those that you love. Ryoko… Ryoko knows that and trusts you because she knows you're just playing, that it's just in your personality to be playful and stuff. She knows you love her and that you'll always go back to her. Akito… Akito isn't playful, or a social butterfly, or any of that. When he pursues someone like that, he's serious. He wants to make a relationship out of it."

"But… Jun's getting married. To Yurika."

Gai shook his head rubbing his forehead on the brown fabric on his arm. "Hey, I never said his choices had to make sense. I'm just saying what I know. And what I know is that Akito wants Jun and he wants him bad."

"If you're so sure, why don't you break it off with him? End it?"

"I love him too much."

"I'd hate to be a big cliché master, but if you loved him that much, you'd let him go."

Gai shook his head again, violently this time. He squeezed his gray-brown eyes shut. "I thought that he loved me. I… I just want to know, Itsuki. I don't think Akito loves me anymore, otherwise he wouldn't chase after Jun like this. I just want to know what I did wrong."

"I'd also hate to break it to you, Jiro, but it was probably not letting Akito have his sexual freedom and let have him top every now and again."

Gai shook his head violently once more, then broke away from the bar, his eyes welled up in tears as he held her arms out to her for an answer. "Don't you see, Itsuki? That's the only way I have any say whatsoever in our relationship! You can call me whipped or whatever you want, but Akito has most of the control. He knows how to manipulate me into getting him whatever he wants, no matter what I say or think! An absolute power corrupts absolutely…" Gai wrapped his arms around himself, but shook his head again. "That's why I'm losing trust in him. I'm scared of making him unhappy at any time, because I'm scared of losing him, scared that I'll drive him away from me. I can't lose him, Itsuki. He's my world."

"Well, that may be what you did wrong. You gave and gave and gave, and now he expects you to do so. But… that manipulating bit… How can you love someone like that? Is it even possible?"

"It wasn't like Fate gave me a choice!"

"Do you really believe that's true? Or are you placing the blame on someone else, anyone else, rather than fess up and admit that you fell for him on your own accord?"

"I don't know. I don't know anything. I just… I wish things were better."

"Well, I'll tell you one thing… He shouldn't have made you scared of your own freedoms. That was cruel. But you also shouldn't have let him. I will call you whipped, because you didn't just let him control you. You gave him the reins yourself. You forged that fear on your own." Itsuki crossed her arms and stared at what would have been like her kid brother if circumstances had been different. "Is that why you've been working so hard? You're afraid?"

Gai nodded slowly, sinking to his knees and covering his face. "No. Maybe. Gods above, YES! When I'm working, he can't come in and criticize, I don't have to take it. Aer… I shouldn't have to take it. That's how it used to be when we first started sleeping together. But now… even our fucking is being manipulated by him. Akito. Aer, Itsuki, YOU'RE RIGHT! It is all my fault, isn't it?! I have been giving so much to him and now he just expects me to give him everything. I did it all. That's what I've done wrong. It is all my fault…"

"Well, no, I wouldn't call it all your fault. Akito… he tends to be unhappy with you, I'll be honest. Angrier. Maybe he has come to depend on you now. But I think maybe he feels a little out of control as well. Maybe his feelings that you control his life by giving and giving is making him want to control yours by taking until you have nothing left. I mean, listen to yourself. 'I love him too much.' He's learned to gain back control by taking advantage of you, Jiro!"

Gai sniffed loudly and let his hands fall into his lap. "So what do you suggest?"

"Well, first of all… remember what Flamma said, back on Ninlan? 'Love never dies.' Akito still loves you, Jiro. But it may have become subdued due to this problem of control you two share. But it will take work to bring it back to what it was before, you know. Trust me, I know all about working on a relationship to make it work. Ryoko and I would not be together to this day if we let problems like this rule our relationship."

"But you guys' relationship had all this tiny, little bumps in the road. Ours has this sudden huge mountain."

"Ah, but like little bumps, it takes effort to get over mountains, just more of it. And if you really love him too much to let him go…"

Gai looked up at Itsuki, his eyes red, yet determined as he made a fist and hit his leg. "I will do whatever it takes. He won't control me any longer. I'll do anything to bring it back to the equal, sharing, HAPPY bond it used to be."

Itsuki smiled. "I'm glad. He really did used to make you happy, you know. You're like my little brother, and I don't like bad things happening to you. I love you. I don't want to see you hurt. But I have a feeling that you and Akito could last a long time if you work at it a bit."

Gai nodded, a small smile forming on his own face. But it quickly dropped. "What am I gonna do about Akito and Jun?"

"Let it go. Jun will get married, and Akito will get over it. He got over Ryoko pretty quickly after you swept him up and I picked up Ryoko, now, didn't he?"

"I suppose so."

"Yes, he did have a… Wait, you already know that he wanted her?"

"Yeah. He told me a long time ago that if we hadn't been together and if you and Ryoko weren't together, he probably would have been chasing Ryoko."

"Dammit, am I always out of the loop?!" She threw her arms up in the air and turned around, crossing them quickly as she feigned anger. Gai knew what she was doing, and stood up, brushing the dust off his plum pants. "Thank you, Itsuki." He came up behind her and gave her a hug around the waist, kissing her cheek.

"Hey now, none of that. Ryoko will be pissed."

"I thought that was the idea."

"You suck cock, Jiro." Gai made a face and let go quickly, shuddering. "Well, I guess I'll have to start now, huh?"

"Jiro's finally getting it! We need cookies, want some cookies?"

"No, but coffee would be nice."

"Now that I've accomplished my initial mission, two coffees and bags of cookies, coming right up!" Itsuki tapped him on the nose and sauntered out his office door, waving hi to Minato as she left. Once in the hallway, her hyper grin fell back into just a happy smile. Gai really was one of her favorite people in the world, even if they pretended to hate each other a lot. He really was her little brother, after all, and she was glad to see that he and his boyfriend were finally going to be doing well. It made her happy to see him happy, after all. And he really was devoted to Akito.

'Maybe this is their defining moment. Ryoko and I had ours. I guess it's all sink or swim for them from now on.'

~*~

She opened the drapes to a rainy evening, glancing at the cars and streets below them. She smiled maliciously as the lightning and thunder rolled along the blanket of dark clouds that had descended upon the city. She glanced at the woman on the couch, expression as blank as ever. She frowned, then left the window to sit at the couch next to her. "What's wrong, darling?"

"I was thinking." She turned away, curling up and leaning on the arm of the couch.

"About what, sweet?"

"About all of this. All we're doing."

"Oh, don't tell me you're growing a conscience."

"I've always had one. I've just learned how to not use it."

"Yet you let it out now. You infuriate me!"

"So why don't you let me go?" She glared at her with tearful, dark eyes. "Let me out of this mess! I won't even go to the police, just let me be free!"

"You know I can't risk that, sweetheart. I apologize. You just make me angry sometimes. But you know that I need you."

"No you don't…"

"Yes. I need you for this. I can't do it without you."

"Why do we have to do it at all…"

"Well, you did suggest it."

"It was an off-hand comment, and you know it!"

Slap. She fell against the arm of the couch and the other woman got up, flipping her hair over her shoulders. "Don't talk back to me. You know I could rid the world of you just as easily. Certain people would rest easier. And isn't all that this is about?"

"No… You need me."

She turned back around, looking at her calmly, serenely. "You're right. I do. Without you, I cannot do this. So I cannot kill you. But you wanted that anyway, didn't you?"

"Yes! Gods, please just let me out…"

"No. How else are we supposed to cleanse our world? To mete out punishment for injustices? To stop civil crimes before they happen?" She bent her head down to hiss in her ear. "To get rid of those that have touched her and been touched by her?"

"Gods, we don't have to do this…"

"Which reminds me. Guess what, darling? I've chosen our next target." She walked over to a small bookcase in the darkened living room and pulled out a photo album. She turned several pages and sat on the couch next to the crying woman. "Look, darling. She is next. Look! She will suffer our punishment next."

"Oh Gods, not her… She was kind, nice, generous… Why would you want to kill HER?"

"Because. It is in my plans. I know what I'm doing, hon. I know specifically what I'm doing. And because of that… she's going to die just the others."

"Not tonight. I don't want to see it. No."

"You never want to see it. But I understand. It is too early. They are on the lookout after we took that old emperor. I will wait a while, but not too long."

"…Thank you."

"This won't happen often. You should be happy."

"I am."

"No you aren't. You still want out."

"…Can you blame me?"

"Not necessarily, but partially. But you are human. We both are. You're allowed to feel. But just know that I'm not letting you out until I am done with you."

"…Will you be done after her?"

A laugh. "We shall see, my sweet."

~*~

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Amber eyes opened slowly in darkness, squinting with grogginess. The small body turned slowly to face the small night table next to the bed, glancing at the clock. It wasn't very late, only a few minutes until midnight , but it was quite late considering that Lapis had been up since four that morning. She sat up in bed, rubbing her eyes to get used to the slightly light room. It was not lit to keep nightmares away, but rather to be functional in case she woke up in the middle of the night, such as now. It was her own mind that controlled the lights in the room, anyway.

'What was that sound…' Some sort of sound had awoken her, as if someone was tapping on the window in her room. But it was impossible. Even if her room was several floors up, it had no window, for fear of the sun somehow harming her pale skin. Nergal, no matter who ran it, had always been very protective of her. But the noise still remained a mystery. Could it have only been an attribute of her dream?

Tap. Tap.

No, there it was again. It was less like someone tapping a window now, and more like someone splashing. The sounds of moving water while underwater. Would could possibly make that sound? Lapis pulled her covers away, swinging her legs over the side of her bed. Before her feet began to feel around on the floor for her slippers, her senses lit on fire with alertness. There was only one thing that made that sound. Thank the Gods she had the sense to wire the digital alarm systems to her own mind. Disregarding her slippers themselves, the lights in her room flashed to full brightness, causing her eyes to narrow in pain. Still, she grabbed the laptop on her desk, sitting at the table and opened up the machine. It was instantly on and connected as she held her hands over the nanomachine interface, letting her eyes widen with her lack of use and the electronic lights to flow through them.

The vision of her room faded, and the next thing she knew, she was zooming along the edges of the firewall around Nergal's systems. It was only once she was reaching some rather familiar areas that she saw where the weakness was. Exactly where Ruri had attacked before. Squinting past the bright lights of the systems protections, she could see the attacker. Male, yet obviously not Hari. Light brown mop of hair, big blue eyes, thick dark glasses, choppy movements. It was almost as if it was…

"Omoikane," she whispered in disbelief. But there was no mistaking that robot anywhere. Omoikane smiled, giggled, and waved childishly, his eyes not bothered at all by the bright shields protecting Lapis's district. Then he dove back into the blinding fray, the protections nearly splitting like water to allow him in.

'How is this possible?' Lapis shook her head, reminding herself that it was her job to stop him, not standing around and asking how. She placed her hands on the inside lining of the shield, causing it to glow a brilliant gold. Omoikane was stopped in his tracks, suspended in the light as it surrounded him fully. Lapis smirked. "You're mine." She closed her eyes and took control of the protections, urging the programs to probe at Omoikane's systems and take them over so she could control him herself. He may have done this of his own accord, but Ruri would regret her last attack on Nergal, her last challenge with her. She was the best and always would be. She passed quickly through his information and thinking processes, barely noticing the halls and halls of books. Instead, she headed straight for the tree.

It was so easy to find. Just following the main halls led directly to the sky blue sphere that held the large tree that was Omoikane's consciousness. But it was huge. Immensely so. Lapis wasn't even sure if she could take complete control of it or not. Could anyone? She could try. She floated down to a branch and stood upon it, shaking it, but not knocking any twigs or leaves off, let alone any flowers. She closed her eyes again and tried to enter the branch. Nothing. She tried again. Nothing. She floated up again, glaring at the tree. Well, if she couldn't control it, there was another way to hurt Ruri through him, to punish her. She smirked evilly as she floated down to the tree's base, intending on cutting through it with her own consciousness. 'I am human, though I hate it. I will prevail over machine.'

"I would think not," stated a booming voice from outside. Lapis was pulled out of Omoikane before she could even blink. She reopened her eyes and pulled her hands away from her security programs. Omoikane was still there, yes… but he was glowing just as bright as her programs, only a pure white that Lapis could almost see the colors of the rainbow in. He smiled at her again, almost as if he had no idea what was going on, before closing his own eyes. Before Lapis's gaze, Omoikane grew in size, keeping his slender body, yet bubbling up a bit in the rear and chest. His glasses faded from view, and his hair lightened to sparkling silver and cascaded to his waist, then pulling themselves up into ponytails. It was then that Lapis's shocked visage reverted into one of hate. Ruri opened her eyes, which were no longer blue but an amber that mirrored Lapis's. "I… would think not, Lapis Lazuli," she said slowly, proving that it was she that had stopped Lapis from hijacking Omoikane and destroying what was most important about him.

"Ruri!" she spat, her lips curled in angry sneer. "You've come to challenge me again, have you?"

"Not necessarily. I'm actually testing these new protections on Omoikane. However, I'm afraid they are not what I wanted. You were still able to nearly kill him."

"I would not have killed him. Just destroyed his human awareness."

"It is as bad. But you were not able to control him, yet I can, from this unit, even."

"This unit?"

"Scan me, Lapis. You might be shocked at what you'll find." Lapis watched her for a moment, then obliged, scanning her quickly for any immediate stats. What she found really WAS astounding. It was a unit much slower than expected, with much less learning capacity… no, NO learning capacity, and a smaller memory. There actually were other programs on it running, not just the Omoikane system. 'Well, it would make sense, as it isn't her Omoikane unit.' She raised her face to see Ruri. "How?"

"I'm connected to him through this bad computer, believe it or not."

"I thought it was only a nanomachine interface that could control him."

"No. As long as he knows it is me. And he does. He's learned the difference between me and you, finally. You will never be able to use him."

"It's a waste. What is a tool if no one else may use it?"

"He is no tool. He is a person."

"He will never be a person."

"He will be before you are. So hateful. Resentment toward your own kind. I declare this challenge over." With one final glare to the younger girl that shared her DNA, Ruri disappeared, leaving the damage down to Lapis's programs in her wake.

Lapis frowned, walking softly through her own programs, touching some of the damaged areas. It was painful, burning. She looked at her hands. They seemed red, but she knew they weren't really burnt. She felt an ache behind her eyes, and she closed them, both in her digital surroundings and in real life. She felt a tear bead on her pale pink eyelashes, and she instantly pulled out of her digital world. She touched her lashes with a finger, and stared at the moisture that collected on her fingers. She balled the hand into a fist, and slammed her laptop closed. With a simple thought, the lights instantly went out in her room, and she was plunged into darkness. She took a deep breath that shuddered, and she let it out with bottled up pressure, in attempts to will away the frustration. Instead, it came out as a sob, and she quickly covered her face with her hands.

All she ever wanted to do in life was become better than Ruri. She was created to be a copy, but she wanted to be different, better, more talented. But it seemed that she would never be so. Ruri found a problem and anticipated Lapis's moves. Ruri had even made it easy for Lapis to do the same, attacking the same place, working from a bad unit. But still Ruri had won this battle. What was Lapis, stupid? Couldn't she hold her own against the "great" Nadesico Computer Operator, Ruri? The perfect little Princess, the first Electronic Fairy, the donor of her genetic code? Was Lapis even human and capable of adaptation?

Lapis never wanted to be human. Not until now. Humans could change themselves to better themselves. Machines and computer depended on other things. They also couldn't change too greatly individually, either. They would then need a whole other unit, while humans had to make due with one body for their whole lives. And if they were incapable of changing… Gods, if she wasn't human, and not a machine, what was she?

~*~

Izumi strummed the last final notes on the strings, murmuring the last few words to herself. Jun sat next to her, watching and listening as she played nervously. Her mouth scrunched up as she thought, nodding another rhythm in her head as she read the words on paper. Then she sighed and handed the paper back to him. "It's pretty and all, Junny, but I'm afraid it's not really rock material. At least not what you're looking for."

"Damn." Junny glanced over the paper dejectedly, the crumbled it up, sighing dejectedly. "Back to the drawing board, I guess."

"Now, wait just a second. I told you it was pretty, just not for what you were looking at. I'm sure you could sell this thing off to some pop singer that can't think of any lyrics quick as lightning. It's just not exactly 'against the system', if you know what I mean."

"I know. It's not, at all. I never really intended it to be so."

"Okay then, I'll tell you. It's too damn lovey-dovey. I mean, you're going to the one of the few things where telling them you're a Jumper will benefit you. But if you tell them that, you got to have a lot more anger against society and government and all that, and none of this hippy stuff. Good for pop-heads, bad for rock-heads."

"I guess… but I don't feel any anger against society or anything."

"Are you serious? Not even the fact that people see you as an instant killer because of those little red marks on your hand?"

"Well, It is messed up… but people are entitled to their opinion. And I'm sure a lot of people do believe I am a killer. I killed Akatsuki, didn't I?"

"Junny, don't start. Okay, what would you say if someone said you did it for fun?"

"It was self-defense and I was defending Yurika from getting killed herself!"

"How about… 'helping myself'… and… Shoot, I'm in a brick."

"Help yourself, I'll do the same. Destruction of property is name of the game."

"Nice. That does work. You better use that."

"But what is it supposed to be about?"

"I don't know… just your own injustices in your life. Let it just be your song, Junny. The own you'll have on top in your portfolio. Like… your dad being a fucker, and your mom being a bitch… Yurika running off to be with Akito on the ship… Akatsuki dying… Akito flirting with you… Living in the ghetto…"

"I don't live in the ghetto!"

"You will when you move out. I drove you there, you know."

"Yeah, yeah… Maybe something Rumiko being an asswipe."

"There goes your anti-government part."

"I guess… I could write in something about you guys… Maybe finding solace in all of your injustices."

"I'm touched, Junny, and I'm sure the others will be too."

"You'll help me, right, Izumi?"

"Absolutely. No more dishwashing for Junny. Okay, let's right down these ideas."

"Fallen from heaven. The human race is imperfect. A disease, a virus, a plague to the planet. Self-absorbed and self-involved. Sustenance is death."

"I love it, Junny. Waste, carnage, destruction, and death."

"Help yourself, I'll do the same. Destruction of property is the name of the game. That can be, like, the refrain or something."

"Yes! That's awesome!" Izumi scribbled down all the ideas they had been coming up as fast as she could, having thrown her guitar on the floor a few minutes prior. Jun held his eyes half-lidded as he rubbed his hands on his pants and rambled as fast as he could. "Make yourself at home, put up your feet. What's that shit under your shoe? Your hospitality."

"Aqua, Junny, you look like you're in a trance or something. You okay?"

"Fine. Just write or I will. Infestation of the world, system, universe. God's mistake, Evolution's waste, Darwin 's folly. Dirty, diseased, dark forces we wield, destroying destruction, devilish death."

Izumi nodded, never stopping the movement of her pen. "Junny, why didn't you attempt to go for this sort of thing before?"

"On my own I think freely. Someone else helping me keeps me focused." Jun fell silent, his eyes closing entirely. He sighed, collapsing on the couch. "I've lost it."

"I'm sorry."

"No, it's not your fault. It was a burst. I should have enough to work with…"

"Yeah, you should."

"Thanks for your help, Izumi."

"No problem. Hey, Junny? Can I see that first song you brought me?"

Jun handed her the crumpled up paper from the floor. Izumi unrolled it, reading over the characters on the paper. "Rewrite this."

"I planned on it."

"No, don't change anything. Just write it on clean paper. And can I get another copy? I want to try it out on the crowd this weekend."

"Sure. Any reason why?"

"Oh, there are some interesting folks in there, and I might be able to get it out for you."

"No, I got that one. Why should I put it in my portfolio anyway?"

"Because if they read over this new one, and then that, they may think you the versatile one you are, and hire you on the spot."

"Wow, I never thought of that."

"I have. Trust me. Always have as many different things as possible, so that you can appeal to many instead of just one. Pop-ish songs are okay too as long as they aren't in excess."

"Oh, okay. Thanks so much for your help, Izumi."

"You can do me a favor."

"What?"

"Bring me any pop-ish songs you write. I mean it."

"Okay. I can do that."

"Thanks, Jun."

"No problem… Izumi." Jun stopped at the door into her sitting room, clutching the new paper.

"Yeah?"

"You… aren't upset I chose Akito over you to be my Fellow Assist, are you? I could have had a Maiden Assist, you know, like Yurika…"

"No big deal. I see it as saving me embarrassment. I don't have to kiss Ryoko. Besides, I know how you and Akito are. You're really close. I would've popped you in the head if you asked me before him." Jun smiled at that.

"You always get it, Izumi."

"I've seen a lot of life."

"I guess. Well, I'm going to go work on this."

"Come and see me again if you have problems." Jun nodded and was gone. Izumi took a deep breath and sighed, leaning on the couch herself.

'Jun was right, all he really needs is some direction to get something done.' She glanced at her guitar, the melody and song that Jun had brought her still playing in her head. "A thousand words have never been spoken…" Izumi reached down and pulled it back into her lap, strumming the strings. She didn't want to make Jun mad, but that song really wasn't for what he was looking for. She knew who it was for though. Junko would have appreciated it very much.

'If he has no luck, he may have to owe me another favor.' She smiled to herself, not in anticipation for his favor he would have to owe her, but rather in how he came to her instead of Itsuki. 'Itsuki is more melody, less lyrics. Ryoko as well. But he didn't seem to go to Hikaru either… Maybe he really did feel bad about getting Akito to be his Assist… No, he was probably just worried Akito will grope him during the ceremony. Akito may be crude, but he isn't that crude. And if he is, he's dead. He may not like Yurika, and he just might have a thing for Jun, and he also may have held a candle for Ryoko once, but if he messes up there ceremony, so help me, Aqua, I will kill him. He will not do that to two of my best friends and his own childhood friend.'

Izumi sat on her couch, fuming for apparently no reason when she heard quick footsteps down the stairs. Hikaru. She couldn't really hear what was being said, but there was a lot of yelling and shrieking. It sounded like Ryoko, Itsuki, and Gai were home. Izumi found her unfounded anger dissipating with a smile. 'Those sillies.'

~*~

Itsuki rubbed her face against Ryoko's lower neck, her arms wrapping tighter around her girlfriend's waist. A smile grew on her face as she snuggled closer to her tomboy, feeling each breath Ryoko took against her chest. Her eyes were closed tight, but with no intentions of sleeping yet. Suddenly, she felt some jarring in Ryoko's body; she was clearing her throat. Then she spoke, "So, what did you find out?"

"From Jiro? Oh… Akito has basically made him scared of doing anything that might make him mad, for fear of leaving him. Jiro's scared as it is with Akito flirting with Jun all the time. He says Akito only flirts when he's serious."

"Really? Akito told me that he was all a game. But, then again, I think that he could possibly see Jun as a good rebound if they ever do split. Which it looks like may happen."

"Not necessarily… Jiro already told me he's willing to do whatever it takes to make their relationship better."

"Well, that's good. Every couple needs that at some point."

"Yes, they do." Itsuki and Ryoko both fell silent, and Itsuki began to frown. She had already done her best to make things wonderful between Ryoko and her. Things were wonderful now, weren't they? 'Of course, don't be silly, Itsuki.' But something still troubled her. She loosened her arms from Ryoko's waist, feeling confusion tense Ryoko's neck as she rolled onto her back, staring at the ceiling. Ryoko rolled from one side to her other, laying a hand on Itsuki's bare arm. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." Itsuki shook her head.

"Liar. Tell me what's wrong." Itsuki turned and saw the outline of her lover's face in the dark, the almost shoulder-length hair completely dark in the lack of light, rather than the two-tones it normally was. She couldn't see Ryoko's expression, but she could just imagine it. Ryoko's black eyebrows knit in confusion and concern, her lips pursed into a frown that was almost a pout, but was actually when she was trying her hardest to develop psychic powers and hear Itsuki's thoughts. Itsuki smiled slightly, sadly, at the image in her head. "I was just thinking about us."

"What about us?"

"Well… just how serious are you about me?" Itsuki felt Ryoko sit up, and could see her looking off at the distant wall. Ryoko was most definitely not naked. If she had been, they may have been too busy to even think of discussing this. No, Itsuki could see the outlines of Ryoko's white tank top covering her top half as, it appeared, she glared at the wall on the other side of the room. Itsuki suddenly felt some slight fear, almost as if she had put Ryoko off by her question. Ryoko's temper was something that Itsuki was learning to control, but still, the thought that it may one day ever be placed towards herself frightened her.

"Gods damn you to the five layers of hell," swore Ryoko, causing Itsuki to suck in her breath, "Tenkawa and Yamada. How they could even make you question… Gods, damn them both!" Itsuki let her air out in a relieved sigh, almost smiling and laughing at her own misplaced fright. But it was a question she wanted an answer to. "Could you please answer my question?"

Ryoko pulled a knee up to her chest, then rested her elbow on it, holding her head up as she turned to face Itsuki. "I'm very, very serious about you. More serious than I ever have been in my life." Itsuki smiled, though she knew Ryoko couldn't see it. She too sat up and draped her arms around Ryoko's neck, leaning her face on Ryoko's shoulder. She snuggled closer, like she was before, her eyes shut tight in comfort. "..I'm glad," she whispered.

Ryoko raised an arm and place a hand on Itsuki's arm again. "What about you, Itsuki?" When Itsuki opened her eyes and looked at her, incredulous, she smiled. "After all, you are the player in this outfit."

Itsuki frowned and let her arms drop to Ryoko's, which was relaxed next to her body. "That wasn't very funny." She glared at her, knowing that Ryoko couldn't see it. Then she relaxed her face, biting her lip in anticipation. "But I'm as serious about you as a heart attack. Do you think I would try so hard to keep you close to me if I wasn't? Trying so hard to keep us together while we were on Ninlan, having you come and live with me, even getting you a job as Head of Security at Mugendai, just so you will be as close to me as I can have you." She placed her hands on Ryoko's cheeks, kneeling so she could see her better. Not that she could. "I'm in love with you, Ryoko. You're what I've always been looking for. You make me happy."

Ryoko covered Itsuki's hands with her own, curling her fingers around them to get them off her face. "You make me happy too. Very happy." Itsuki felt tears welling up in her eyes. "You don't believe me."

"No, I do! I believe you."

"What, do you want me to prove it to you, Ryoko? I love you!"

"Dammit, I said I believe you, for Terra's sakes!" Itsuki shook her head. Even she couldn't believe it. So how could Ryoko? Itsuki was not one to fall in love, but she had fallen for Ryoko. And Ryoko was accepting it so blindly?

"Ryoko… Let's get married. Right now. Tonight."

"Wait, what? What are you talking about?"

"I'm going to prove that I love you!"

"I told you I freaking believe you!"

"But I don't believe it myself. I'm going to prove it to myself. Let's get married, tonight. Right now. Pentakami allows gay couples to marry. Let's do it."

"No." Ryoko pulled Itsuki's hands down to the blankets that pooled between them, holding them there. Itsuki felt a tear track down her face. "We're not going to get married tonight. Not tonight, not now. You're out of your mind if you want to, Itsuki."

"But… I thought you were serious about me? That you… you want to spend the rest of your life with me?"

"I am, and I do. Trust me. But this isn't what we need right now, Itsuki. Especially if you're questioning whether or not I really do love you as much as I do. See, if we were to get married… we would be locking ourselves to this."

Itsuki's eyes widened. "Do… you really think of it like that?"

"Well, marriage kind of seals the deal, right? I just happen to think that a relationship like ours loses meaning after that."

"How so?"

"See, marriage takes a lot of work to get out of. So much work, that it kind of discourages anyone from leaving it. I just… think it means so much more when it is so easy to get out of it, like now. We're just girlfriends. Either one of us could leave it at any time, and it is probably much easier to do so than to stick with it. But even if leaving would be much easier than staying together, we still have this." Ryoko laced her fingers with Itsuki's and held the two of them up between them. "We still both want to work and be together, no matter how hard it is. This can be symbolized by marriage, maybe… but never defined by it. Marriage would only prove it to others. And I don't know about you, but I don't want to ruin this just to prove something to other people. To hell with them."

Tears freely flowed down Itsuki's face, but not because of sadness. Because Ryoko knew exactly how serious they were about each other, even though Itsuki wasn't even sure herself. Letting go of Ryoko's fingers, she threw her arms around Ryoko's neck, pressing her lips against those of her girlfriend. This force pushed Ryoko on her back on the bed, where Itsuki could easily straddle her, sitting on her hips. She bent down, her hair creating a curtain around them. Placing feather kisses around Ryoko's face, she whispered sweetly, "You are so profound sometimes, Ryoko."

Ryoko shrugged, wrapping her arms around Itsuki's waist to pull her closer to her. "I was just saying what I believe. What I think." Itsuki rested her head on Ryoko's pillow, her hand ghosting Ryoko's breasts before coming to rest on Ryoko's side. "And what you think is sometimes what I really need to hear." She smiled, then closed her eyes softly, intending to fall asleep.

Ryoko sighed deeply, the moved a lock of Itsuki's hair away from her face. Sometimes Itsuki could be so insecure. But it was this that really made Ryoko happy. That, after all they had happen between them, she could still say she had this. She squeezed Itsuki tight before letting herself fall into sleep as well.

~*~

Yurika leaned her ear against the door in the kitchen that led to the entertainment room. Surprisingly, the room got very little use, and Itsuki even defined it as a type of ballroom, though it did have bookshelves, a couch, a television and some other assorted chairs and tables. In all the time she had been living at Yamada Manor, she though that the bar even got more use than the entertainment room. But, never the less, there were lights on in there, and she was pretty sure that Gai was the one in there, as Akito, Ryoko, Itsuki, Jun, and Izumi had all gone to bed already, and Ruri and Hikaru were playing Fighting Kanji in the parlor. Besides, she needed to talk to him in the first place. She knocked on the door, hoping she wasn't being a bothering him.

"What are you knocking for?" he shouted, and Yurika blushed. It was overly polite of her to do so. She opened the door to see Gai sitting on the neon green couch, his eyes fixed on something on TV. She walked over and sat next to him, cocking her head at the television. Listening to it, she found that it was some sort of history documentary on religion. Gai shrugged and picked the remote back up. "There's almost nothing on TV tonight. I wanted to veg out, and there's nothing good on." He turned it to another channel. "Any preferences?"

"Huh?" It took Yurika a moment to realize that he thought she had come in to watch television too, as the one in the parlor was being used, and Jun and Izumi were both asleep, so their TVs were almost out of the question. She shook her head, her loose long bangs shaking feverishly. "No, I didn't come in here to watch TV. I actually… wanted to talk to you, Yamada-san."

"uh-oh, this sounds bad." He switched the TV off and turned to listen to her. "What is it?"

"Oh, I… I just wanted to thank you. For letting me come and stay here for so long."

"Knock it off, Misumaru-san. It was no trouble, none at all. It's nice to have guests once in a while, even ones that stay longer than expected. It was nice to have you around."

Yurika blushed again and bit her lip, turning away, embarrassed. "No, I mean… I know I arrived here rather suddenly and without warning… And that it was everyone else's votes that let me stay here, and not yours. I'm just thanking you for letting me stay anyway."

"Hey, I never said half the choices I make are good ones. In fact, I'm glad I was outvoted."

Yurika turned her head quickly to see him again. "Really?"

"Yeah. The others usually can figure out what's best together. That, and it was house business. House business is for all of us to figure out, not just me, even if it is sort in my name."

"But… I thought you would have resented me staying here, been angry, something! After all, I did sort of take Akito away from you…"

"Wait, what? Misumaru-san, that's bull right there. You didn't take him away or even drive him away when we first broke up. I made a mistake, and that was how I was to pay for it, with our breakup. My mistake, not you. In fact, you and him going out gave me a little time to think things over, you know?" Gai stood up, shoving his hands into his pockets. He watched the floor not move for a bit, and didn't speak for so long that Yurika was about to say something or leave, but then his voice came back. "You see, Junny is trying so hard to not make the same mistakes as last time when you two were engaged. To learn from those mistakes. I think… I think I've been trying to do the same thing with Akito. But… it's not the same. I don't think it ever will be."

Yurika frowned, feeling a little sad for Gai and a little mad at Akito. "I'm sorry, Yamada-san. I… I didn't mean to bring up any bad feelings. Make you sad."

"No, it's all right. I've been thinking about this sort of thing for a while anyway."

"Well, if you say it's okay… But I still wish I could do something in return for your hospitality to me."

"Oh, you are, and you will be for a while, I expect."

"What do you mean?" Gai looked at her, and smiled his little half grin that Yurika knew used to make Akito melt. It just made Yurika want to smile too. "You're making Junny a very happy person. He hasn't been happy in ages. As long as he's happy, I don't think debts or anything matter, do you? Especially since staying here is what made you two become so close and all…"

Yurika's smile grew big and she jumped up from the couch, trapping Gai in a hug that pinned his arms to his sides. She squeezed very tight, shocking for someone her size, and nodded. "Thank you so much, so very, very much… Gai-san." At the use of his nickname, Gai blinked, a little shocked. Then he smiled too, hugging her back as he worked his arms out from under hers. "You're very welcome, Rika-chan. Anytime."

~*~

Rumiko pushed his glasses up his nose as he glanced over the latest reports from those investigating Mythos's murder. It appeared that they had found proof that it was only two Jumps, but when they had happened was still a mystery. Another important fact was that they found it was not just one person in the Jump, but rather two. Who they were, other than at least one Jumper, was also still a mystery. But still, it was a breakthrough that Rumiko had not expected from the mail carrier that afternoon. He found himself smiling a little in satisfaction as he closed the report. He didn't get to place it back in it's envelope, however, before the large doors leading into the palace opened, a slim figure in a long black cloak walking into the throne room. Rumiko narrowed his eyes, not knowing who it was until the figure pulled the hood off her head, showing a long cascade of purple hair laced with ribbons, flowers, and beads. She pulled her hair out as she waved to him, nodding to the guardsmen to close the door once again. She walked toward the chairs in the room, one of the more decorated among them, and unbuttoned the black cloak, throwing it upon it nonchalantly.

Rumiko half-lidded his eyes, looking over her apparel. "Megan, don't you think that it is somewhat inappropriate for someone of your stature to be wearing such commonplace clothing?"

Megumi looked at him, confused, then looked down at herself, holding her shirt out so she could see what was on it, as if she couldn't remember what she was wearing. She was wearing her old Nergal off-duty shirt, a blue mini-skirt, and a pair of sandals. Her hair had been done up before she had gotten dressed by her maid, but she chosen something of her own to wear other than her big, puffy white dress. She shook her head though, holding it up to see him again and letting go of her shirt. "Well, you are always paranoid about people coming up to me."

"That's what the cloak is for."

"Yeah, I wore it though. Rumiko, it is extremely hot outside, and I think I should be able to choose what I want to wear. Besides," she smiled at him evilly, full of intent, "I am a common girl after all, taken in by the illustrious emperor of Ninlan. I cannot become used to this sort of lifestyle overnight."

"Not now, Meg. I'm busy." Megumi rolled her eyes and gathered up her black cloak, intending to either hang it up herself or find someone else to do so. "And I was just escorting Igadosu to the train station so he could go home. No big deal… Except that you didn't come along, like you really should have."

"I was busy." Rumiko picked the report up and began to put it back in the envelope it came in.

"Doing what?"

"I got another update on the investigation. They found out there were two people, and only two Jumps. At least one of them was a Jumper, of course, but they don't know who they were or when the Jumps came from or went to."

"Gods above, Rumiko, you're obsessed! Why can't you just let those people do their job and get on with your life?"

Rumiko watched his wife suddenly paced, incredulous. "Aren't you? You held Mythos is high esteem, just as I."

"Yes, of course, and I miss him, but I try not to let it rule ever waking moment of my life. I mean, look at you! It's pushing everything else out of your head. Look, you've done what you could, Rumiko. You've given them more than enough information, and I'm sure they'll figure it out soon enough. But you've got to move on, Rumiko. Your people…" Megumi shook her head and pulled a newspaper out of one of the pockets in the black cloak still in her arms. "Your people are starting to wonder if you care more about yourself them you do your own empire." She walked up to his throne and dropped it into his lap, going behind it to reread it over his shoulder. Rumiko held it up so he could see the headline, not that he couldn't before.

"Lennon Rebellion: Pentakami Rule Too Much for Citizens?" Rumiko's jaw dropped. He never knew anything about anyone having problem with his or the church's rule of the planet until Igadosu had planted the seeds of the idea the other day while playing Neptune 's Victory. Could it possibly have been that he knew about this?

Rumiko scanned the article quickly. Lennon was a tourist city in the middle of the Cendivo continent, to the Northeast of Carmina. It also had two towns there were very, very close to it, close enough to even be considered the same town. East Lennon specialized in mining various resources, while South Lennon was more for the gamblers and criminals, with one of the highest crime rates in the nation. But it was also mostly populated by non-Jumpers. According to the article, they resented the Pentakami rule of the entire planet, stating that no religion should have such complete control of a nation. They desired to break away from the Empire, create their own government and be their own nation.

Rumiko let the newspaper fall back onto his lap. He stared off into the wood of the floor as Metallo, the little puppy they had received as a wedding gift from the former Nadesico captain and pilots, bounded across it, skidding to a halt as he realized that Megumi, the one that accepted responsibility for his needs, was over by the scary man and his chair. He ran over to behind the throne for a good scratch. Rumiko didn't watch this lightly though. He suddenly had the weight of a thousand men on his shoulders. Instead, Megumi spoke as she bent down to pick the little dog up.

"You've been so focused on finding out what happened you've been neglecting your duties. All I've been able to tell reporters is that you have no comment." Rumiko looked behind his chair and glared at her, turning in his seat. "Well, you could have said something on your own, you know! You are the Empress of Ninlan."

"You and I both know that the people won't accept something like that from me, someone from another nation, and another planet, for that matter. They could easily just say I married into power, and that wouldn't exactly go well with them either if I have this little dictation session where I made statements about stuff like this. They need your word on this, as emperor. You were the one born and raised here, the one chosen by the Gods to rule. But now people are starting to think that the Gods really are just clouds of retrospect particles, no matter what we know about them or not. They are ready to refute your position of power on that notion. You've got to prove that you can actually be a leader, that you will be their emperor in times of need, not just the head of some church. You've got to come up with your own view of this, whether I say it publicly for you or not. Besides, I'm your public relations advisor before I am Empress, and I'm telling you that you will take control of this situation."

Rumiko crossed his arms and bowed his head, thinking hard on the problem. But he didn't have any sort of idea what to do to fix this. "So what do you suggest I do?"

Megumi smiled, knowing she had finally gotten through to her husband. She set Metallo down on the floor, patting his rear to get him to get going somewhere. Obedient, or perhaps in search of some toy, he walked out of the room, wagging his little fuzzy tail. She walked around to her own throne, sitting and balancing her body on one of the arms. "Let me give you a quick Earth History lesson. The War for Lunar Autonomy started two years after the Lunar Republic began seeking independence from Earth. The Moon was attacked, and the survivors of the battles that followed moved to Mars, where they set up a complete colony. Two years later, the colony was destroyed by nuclear warheads sent from Earth to finally silence them for good. The survivors of THAT attack moved on to Jupiter, her satellites, and the nearest asteroids in the asteroid belt to the planet. They found an old factory there, one capable of creating unmanned weapons, from the Ancient Jupiterian Empire. That, a hundred years later, leads the good people of Earth, that knew nothing of the War for Lunar Autonomy mind you, into the Lizard War, the war with Jupiter that eventually led to great amounts of death and destruction for something that happened a hundred years prior." She let herself fall backward into her seat, her legs dangling over the arm. "The lesson in this is obvious, I would think. A little bit of cooperation with some individuals' ideals and desires for independence would have saved everyone a whole lot of anguish and problems. And what does this apply to now?" She twisted in her seat so that she was facing forward in her own throne, fixing her skirt so she wasn't flashing anyone. "You should allow Lennon, and maybe even all of Cendivo, to have independence and separate from the Ninlandish Empire."

"But wouldn't that lessen our own government's impact and power if we just let anyone run off as they please?"

"Logically, yes. Theoretically, however, it proves that your rule is the most prone to allowing freedom of all peoples, even those that disagree with you. Even if your entire basis of power is based on the establishment of a certain religion, you could easily turn it to your favor and say that Pentakami teaches tolerance for all people and ideas, no matter what. You could easily say that it inspired your decision to allow Cendivo to separate from the Empire's rule. The people will have a better understanding of how you run the place and more trust in you as their emperor, if you refuse to impede on freedoms like that. Hell, Rumiko, they might not even separate at all if you say that."

"But what about those idiots that think basing a government on a religion is a bad idea? Those that think the Gods are, as you say, 'just clouds of retrospect particles'?"

"Actually, that was going to be my thing. I have that covered myself. I was going to be your little public speaker again anyway, with you just kind of hanging around and adding little things in as usual, anyway. I can just say that the Pentakami Church part is all on you. Then I can give a quick little lesson, like I just gave you. I would say that we would give Cendivo its independence as it is a human right, not something the Empire will ever deny its people. That, and it would also prevent conflict in this wonderful time of peace. And I do think that I know how precious peace is, don't you think?"

Rumiko stayed silent as his wife glanced in his direction. He opened his eyes however, and let his arms fall slack. "Meg, you are a genius."

"Yes, I know. That's why I handle public relations and speaking. But you being obsessed with Mythos's death…" She shook her head and wrapped her arms around herself, looking away. "I accepted your offer to be married because I love you, not because I wanted any type of political power. I… I want to spend the rest of my life with you. But…" She shook her head again and turned back to him, looking positively saddened by the thought, "If you're going to be so focused on other things and not your duties and responsibilities… not even thinking about me..." She looked down, almost as if she was too ashamed of him to look at him. "I'm just wondering why I married you, the person I'm so in love with, if you don't love me and you are so easily distracted from me and… and your goal for the planet. Advancing Ninlan to the level of Earth and Jupiter, remember? And… if your desire for answers regarding Mythos's murder is causing you to neglect what was important in the first place…" A tear tracked down Megumi's cheek, and fell onto the floor. She turned away, embarrassed.

Rumiko frowned, yet stood, kneeling before Megumi's throne and taking her hands in his. "Megan, I don't want to fail Mythos. You know that. But… I don't want to fail my empire, or my empress, either. Mythos did marry us. But… I cannot ignore the fact that I had been deceived."

"I know. I was tricked too, you know? But…" She looked up, showing that that lone tear really was as alone as it seemed, "the answers will come out in time. The authorities will find the answers soon enough. After all, you are the emperor, and you should let people do some of these types of things for you, sometimes. And when it comes to finding Mythos's murderer… This is one of those times."

"Megan, I'm so sorry."

"It is all right. You had to learn this eventually. I had to learn it for myself when I first came here with you. I'm just glad I could walk you through it." She pulled their hands up to her cheek, rubbing her cheek on them like a cat.

Rumiko shook his head, his own cheeks bursting in flame, ashamed of himself. "Will I ever be forgiven, Meg?"

"I don't know. That is something you'll have to take up with Magus… and the people of Ninlan."

~*~

Ryoko ran her hand through her green-and-black bangs, trying to wipe the sweat away. It was a small gesture toward fatigue, one that was quickly refuted as she landed a quick roundhouse kick at the poor and innocent punching bag she usually assaulted. A couple of hops before she punched it from the bottom up, then, with light feet, padded away from it and to another side. She had no real idea what she was doing. She just knew that it was going to die at her hands as fast as she could possibly do it. It was a human, not a bag in her clouded blue eyes. It got rid of her constant worry of knocking it down, and made it more efficient for real-life situations. She was Head of Security at Mugendai for a reason.

But it also meant that her senses were at an all time high, listening and feeling for anyone, anything that could possibly be sneaking up on her. Which is how she could hear the steps in the parlor of someone that was not in there to begin with. Someone walking into that room conjoined to the gym. She stopped the swinging bag to quiet the chains rubbing together. Yes, someone was definitely walking into the parlor and towards the room she was in. She quickly ran over to hide on the other side of the door, so anyone coming it would have to answer to her first. She heard a hand wrap around the doorknob, and watched it jiggle then turn, the world running much slower than her mind. As soon as the door actually opened, though, she reached out with tight, wound-up precision, her taped-up hand closed around the intruder's throat and pushing them against the door they had just opened and entered. Ryoko held her eyes closed for a moment after this, smiling at her success. But once she opened her eyes, she made a face and let go immediately.

"Junny, what the hell are you doing? Knock next time, shit! I could have killed you, and then Yurika would have to murder me in my sleep…"

Jun touched his throat with his own hands and coughed, glad to realize that it was still there. "Just what the hell was that for?!?"

"Well, I didn't know it was YOU! I thought it was Hikaru! She's been bugging me all morning to play Lovey-Dovey Hard-Boiled Battle with her, and I didn't come home early today to play video games, I came home to work off some anger." Ryoko walked back over to the gray punching bag and hit it once more, but realized that her adrenaline high had left her and she just didn't feel like it anymore. She sighed, unwrapped the tape from her hands and stretching her fingers out. Then she reached up to the back of her head and pulled the hair-tie holding her small ponytail still out.

Jun sat down on one of the few chairs in the room. "Flamma, Ryoko, your hair's getting pretty long. You planning to grow it out?" Ryoko turned and glared at him. "Do I look like a girly-girl to you? No, I'm just waiting until the green grows away before I cut it to my normal length." She grabbed her own chair and pulled it over next to her stepbrother's. "But I'm sure you didn't just risk both of our lives to talk about my hair." She sat down in it, uncapping a water bottle and taking a long drink from it, showing yet another sign of fatigue.

Jun looked away, a little embarrassed. "No, I didn't." Ryoko smirked and recapped the bottle. "Surprise, surprise."

"Well… I was just worried. We don't have times to bond anymore, you know, brother and sister that we are. I just wanted to make sure that… we're okay."

"Ah, I see. You want to make sure your wedding plans go as expected. Don't try mind games, Junny. I may lack a certain sense of femininity, but I am still a woman." At Jun's blush, Ryoko laughed and patted him on the shoulder. "Of course we're okay, Junny. I never would have accepted Yurika's offer to be her Maiden Assist if we weren't, you know. After all," she crossed her arms behind her head and leaned back, "it's like I'm both Assist at once, you know? Yurika's asked me to publicly give my consent for one of my best friends to marry my older stepbrother. Yeah, I'd think it's obvious I'm ready to smooch with whoever you throw at me as your own Assist."

Jun laughed, covering his mouth with a hand politely. "Oh, then you might sense the sweet irony in my choice."

"Oh, you already made it? Who is it? Bring it on."

"Akito."

Ryoko sat up, coming out of her relaxed position, giving Jun a look of horror. "Oh, you have got to be kidding me, Jun." When Jun shook his head with a smile, Ryoko covered her face, which was growing redder by the second, with her hands. "Good God of Earth, you are the most sadistic man in the world! And I just told him a couple days ago that I could have seen the two of us fucking had the circumstances been different. Terra, Yamada will skin me alive!"

"Oh, don't give me that. Gai's a remarkably good sport. As long as you don't actually have sex with Akito, I would say you're out of the frying pan with him and Itsuki. Besides, if anyone is going to get in trouble, it's me! I'm the one setting up all this trouble for myself, anyhow."

"What makes you think so?"

"Well, look at it like this. Akito once had a thing for both Yurika and you at one point. He now currently has a thing for me, if I'm not mistaken."

"Wait, how did you find out about that? I mean, you know?!?"

"I'm insulted, Ryoko. You think me so dumb? It's as clear as the nose on my face." Jun touched his nose, indicating that the expression was used well, as he knew very clearly where it was.

"But how did you figure it out? It's been taking the rest of us lots of work to determine whether he did or not!"

Jun turned away again, his amused smile falling down. "well… let's just say that there have been some more… tender moments we've shared where he wouldn't have flirted with me if he was just joking around, that he only would have done so in if he really felt something for me."

"Terra, Jun. Your whole wedding ceremony is looking to turn into some preempted, bad talk show that features hardcore wrestling. Hell, at this point, it looks like I'll have to hold Akito down on the ground and kiss him to make him give consent! Junny, why couldn't you have just picked Izumi for your Maiden Assist? Avoid all this inevitable drama?"

"Because I want there to be drama. I want all of us to get over as soon as possible. I want to get all of the issues and stuff out of the way. I want this wedding… when Yurika and I finally get married… I want it to be the beginning of a new life for me, for us. I want to rid all of our pasts together of bad things like this, so that I can look back and not worry about how things could have been different. Besides, things may even blow over before we actually have it. We're waiting until at least November. Things can change a lot before then."

"In five months? Shit, the whole world could stand on its head by then. But I see what you're saying. I mean, you do have a right to pick your own best friend for this thing. Yurika picked hers, though I don't see where she thinks I'm her best friend, but whatever."

"But the point of all this was… After knowing all of this, will you still do it? I mean, Yurika just might kill me if you say no, but I really wanted you to be informed in your choice. Besides… I hate to say it, but Yurika just isn't one of us. She doesn't seem to realize that something like this can cause unfixable problems among us."

"No, she probably doesn't understand that, that knowing stuff like this is important. She doesn't get all of our bonds, otherwise she would be in on it herself. But hey. I'll still do it. I don't care if I have to lay him out on the floor and knock him unconscious. I will kiss Akito, I will be Yurika's Assist, and I will give my consent. You and Yurika will get married if it's the last thing I ever do. I mean, you've been in love with her for ages, and if marrying her will make you happy, so be it. Hey, our parents may suck, but I got some familial instincts. I can help my big brother out if it helps him."

Jun's smile returned, and he held his arms out for Ryoko to hug him. "Thanks, Ryoko." Ryoko got up, groaning, and bent down to his him a little awkward hug. "It's no trouble for me." She ruffled his hair. "I love ya, after all, even if it's only been in the past five months that we realized that we really were legally siblings."

Jun's smile fell again as he realized what Ryoko meant. "Five months… Ryoko, what if Yurika doesn't want to marry me after that time goes by?"

"She will, don't panic. She's the one that proposed, after all. And this time… she loves you. Not just as a best friend, either. She's serious about you guys this time."

Jun nodded. "You're right, Ryoko. I can't thank you enough. And I love you too. I wish I got to you before Yurika when I was looking for an Assist."

"No you don't, you loser. You love all this trouble you're causing for everyone."

Jun grinned. "Yes, yes I do."

"And you suck." Jun giggled a little bit. "Yes, yes I do."

"Holy shit, Junny. I didn't need to know THAT particular gem of information, thanks."

"What? What's the matter? Being submissive is my nature, Ryoko, you should know that. Don't you even know that I'm taking up Yurika's name when we get hitched?"

"Dear Gods, you're sacrificing everything for her!"

Jun nodded, relaxing into his own chair and looking up at the ceiling. "As it should be," he whispered, closing his eyes and smiling. "As it should be."

~*~

Hikaru wasn't even awake yet, and Ruri was even in their shower, it was so early. Yet Izumi came in anyway, covering the phone receiver she carried. In her other hand would be Hikaru's demise. With a quick push of the button on the top of the little bottle in her other hand, a deafening honk roared out of the small horn attached to it. Hikaru jumped sky high, and had it not been for her sudden anger at Izumi, the yellow lines that had suddenly covered her body probably would have taken her somewhere that wasn't there, whether it was the past, the future, to Ninlan or even just downstairs. But the lines faded quickly and Hikaru screamed at the top of her lungs, "WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT FOR, IZUMI?!?" Those that could actually hear it over Hikaru's screaming and the sound of water in the bathroom would be treated to a small voice saying quite plainly, "Hontou, baka baka," as was characteristic of the one that said it.

Izumi was not fazed by Hikaru's outburst, only blinked her visible eye. Then she set the foghorn down on the nightstand separating Hikaru and Ruri's beds and dropped the cordless phone onto Hikaru's lap. "Phone for you." With that, Izumi spun on her heel and left the room, intending on getting a drink before she, Yurika, and Akito had to leave.

Hikaru yawned and, rubbing her eyes, picked up the phone and put it to her ear, mustering up enough energy to mumble, "Moshi-moshi, Amano Hikaru speaking," before yawning again. A glance at the clock proved that it was four in the morning. Four in the morning? Who could possibly be calling for her at four in the morning? Her editors didn't even think about coming into their workplaces until nine!

"I'm sorry I woke you up, Hikaru. Forgive me?" Hikaru's groggy expression brightened immediately at the sound of the person's voice on the other end. "Yes, but only because it's you, Uri-P. What's up? Why're you calling so damnably early, though?"

"I've been meaning to call you for a couple days, but I get so freaking busy in the evenings that I just tend to forget. I figure that if I called you in the morning, I would actually get around to it."

"Sounds good… just don't make it a common practice thing, okay?"

"No problem. And me? The usual. Slave-driving housemates of yours got me working. What's up with you?"

"Oh, Ruri's come to stay with us, but you knew that, I guess… I've just been hanging with her a lot lately. Nothing else better to do. I suppose I should really follow Jun's example and eventually get a real job, but you know me… I'm lazy. Oh, did you hear that Jun and Yurika are going to get married?"

"That rumor did reach my eager ears, yes."

"I think it's the sweetest thing ever." Hikaru fell back so that she was lying down on her bed again. "So, obviously you had a reason for calling in the first place, or you wouldn't have risked calling so early. Proposing to take me somewhere?"

"Yeah, actually, but no where really fun. My crappy furniture is depressing me, especially when I can easily go get new stuff. So this Sunday, you wanna go look for new furniture with me?"

"Sure, not like I have anything else to do. Oh, hey, can Yurika and Jun come with? They're looking into moving out into their own place, and they will need something to sit on and eat off of."

"Sure, I have no problem with that. Is seven-thirty okay?"

"In the morning? I suppose I could arrange it. I'll hate you forever, but I suppose I could work it all out with them."

"So, you said Jun and Yurika are going to move out? I didn't know that. How is that? I mean, I know you guys were close and all…"

Hikaru frowned, rolled onto her stomach, and propped her head up with a hand. "I don't know. It does make me at least sort of sad. It made me sad when Yurika stopped living in my room and started raping Junny in his sleep. But I think it might make me sadder when they aren't here. I mean… Yurika's made her self fit in best she could, though she isn't really with them all the time. But Jun… he's been living with us since we got off the ship, you know? And we made plans to live together before the ship even landed. I don't know, it just… feels like I'm losing a friend. I know we never planned to live here forever, but it feels like I'm losing a friend, not just a housemate. But, over the past few months, it's almost meant the same thing, you know?" Hikaru bit her lip and noticed that Uribatake was being very quiet. She went over her last words and swore to herself. "Oh, dammit. Uri-P, that's not what I meant…"

"No, don't worry, I understand. All those guys in your house, you're much closer to them. Some sort of connection you guys have… I can't explain it or describe it. But it's a connection I don't think we'll ever have, and I don't know why. I don't know… maybe it's a Jumper thing and I wouldn't understand or something."

Hikaru frowned deeper. "Seiya… are you okay?" She knew that she probably had just given him a shock, using his real name, but she felt it was necessary, that a childish nickname wasn't called for here. He sounded depressed, like he really did want in on that connection, but he never really would get in on it.

"Hikaru, I've got to admit it. You're so much closer to them and I'm jealous. I want to be close to you because I really do like you. I have for a while. But you knew that. It's just… I know you don't like me to the same extent."

"Hey now, I wouldn't say that so quickly! I really like you too! I'm just… ashamed. You see, I haven't been completely honest with you. I mean, um, I haven't told you everything."

"That doesn't matter. You've told me that you're a compulsive liar before. But I knew that before you told me. And I can see the truth hidden in those fibs of yours. It's not like I resent them or anything. I told you, I like you a lot. And I know that chronic lying is something you're just not going to give up. It's part of you, who you are. And I'm not going to ask you to stop on my count. Liking you means accepting everything about you."

Hikaru knit her eyebrows and stared into the wood of her headboard. "So… what are you saying, Seiya. Are you… asking me out?"

"If you want to call it that, sure."

"Well, this was an interesting thing to get foghorned awake to." Hikaru rolled onto her back, resting her free hand on her forehead. "I suppose I could be evil and say no… but I don't feel up to evil today." She grinned, going against her statement. "So, sure. Let's be going out. Why the hell not? Besides, being your girlfriend would be fun. We can talk about models and comics and all sorts of crazy things like that a be generally geeky like that! It'll be great!"

"You think so?"

"Yep! Thanks for asking Uri-P, or should I say, 'lovely little boyfriend-poo'?" She sat up, a shit-eating grin plastered to her face.

"Uh… no, you shouldn't say that."

"Bah, you suck. But yay! Hikaru is no longer single! Hugs!"

"You'll get lots of them on Sunday, you brat!"

"Yay! I'm a brat!"

"Good Lord, Hikaru, you're such a cute little kid."

"Makes you feel like you're cradle-robbin' now, doesn't it?"

"Surprisingly, yes. I'm glad you hate the smell of alcohol, or I could have a real demon on my hands."

"Oh, stop." Hikaru pulled the blankets away from her body, and just as she was slipping her feet into her slippers, the bathroom door opened to a fully-dressed Ruri carrying her laundry. "Oh, my turn already?"

"Yes," said the stoic girl, not being able to bite back a smile.

"Oh, well, Uri-P, I'd hate to cut this chat close, but the shower has now been opened up for me. I'll see you on Sunday."

"See you too." Hikaru hung up the phone and set it on the nightstand. "Ruri, it looks like you're the only single one left in this house. I just hooked up with Uri-P!"

"I know. I could hear you. Bragging will do no good, as I believe everyone in Kawasaki heard you."

"You suck, Ruri. Okay, what to wear, what to wear…"

~*~

Itsuki sighed as she finally made it all the way up the stairs, feeling very tired indeed. Ryoko had already headed off, along with most of the rest of the house. Thus, the entire house was fairly dark, including the upstairs hall, save for the usual striking light coming out of Hikaru's room along with the strings of music that trickled out of the room before Ruri had finally made Hikaru head off to sleep. But this time there was someone obscuring the light by leaving the room and closing the door. Itsuki noticed that it wasn't Hikaru, the person being several inches shorter than she would have been had she been the redhead. No, definitely not Hikaru. The hair was longer and, in the light that did escape the door, much lighter. Itsuki squinted into the darkness, and, realizing it was Ruri, turned the light on in the hallway, probably to the anger of more than one housemate. "Ruri? What're you doing out here? Getting something to drink?"

"No, in fact, I came to talk to you." Itsuki's mind reels. What could Ruri possibly have to talk to her about? Then she remembered that Gai had a conversation similar to this one a couple days ago with Yurika. "Oh, I see. Look, don't worry about thanking us for letting you stay here…"

"No, that's not what I came out here to say. I am grateful for your hospitality and generosity, but I came out here to tell you that I will be going back home tomorrow."

"Tomorrow? Damn, Ruri, you do love throwing plans for a loop, don't you?" Ruri knit her eyebrows in confusion. "What do you mean? I plan on going to the Kawasaki Jump Shuttle Station myself."

"Are you nuts? What, you think after staying here for two weeks, we'd let you go back to the station alone? By yourself? With no one to wave goodbye to you? Preposterous." At Ruri's frown, Itsuki looked at her as if she had just said that the world was actually just a stack of gooey pancakes. "Unless… you have something against us? Is that why you're leaving, and planning on going alone? Do you think we're sick of having you here or something? You're welcome to stay here as long as you please, you know…"

"No, it has nothing to do with you, any of you. I have my reasons for leaving."

"Like? Name me one."

"Well… the last time I talked to my brother, he informed me that he brought Rachiku over to our side when it comes to what separates and divides our house. Rachiku has been the worst of our brothers when it came to siding with my mother, and if Ariko is successful in switching Rachiku over to us, the lines may swing totally in our favor."

Itsuki clicked her tongue on the roof of her mouth. "You know, Ruri, the politics in your house are truly disgusting. Why can't you all get along?"

"That is our point entirely."

"But that's it? Some progress for tolerance in your family and you're heading back already? I don't think I'm quite convinced that it isn't us that is driving you away."

"I need to go back."

"Why?"

"Well… I think… you'll understand in a few years, Kazamo-san. It's about Omoikane. I need to go back… back to him."

"Ooooh, I see now."

"Yes. Tenkawa-san made it clear to me exactly why I have been longing for Omoikane's presence while I have resided here." Itsuki nodded. "I understand." Ruri shook her head. "No, I don't think you do. I have had near-constant connection with Omoikane for nine years. After that extended amount of time, you either hate the person to death, or you become very, very attached to them."

Itsuki looked over the young girl in from of her. Despite being only fourteen, Ruri seemed to have the maturity of even Inez at that moment. She knew what it was like to never leave someone. Most people didn't learn that until several years of marriage. "Don't say anymore, Ruri. I know what you're talking about. It's cute. Absolutely adorable. And I am willing to let you go home, for the sake of electronic love."

Ruri bowed her head and began to blush. "Please stop, Kazamo-san." Itsuki bent at her knees to see Ruri's face, which she quickly turned away. "Wow, I've never seen you blush before, Ruri. I do wonder what it means, don't you?" Ruri's cheeks grew hotter, and she squeezed her eyes shut at Itsuki's teasing. "I mean, Good God of Spirit, you didn't even blush when Yurika was running around the house gloating about having sex with Junny."

"I've become used to it now. After being on the Nadesico and staying here, it is required to become used to the subject."

Itsuki laughed and stood back up. "Hanging around Hikaru didn't help it all, did it?"

"No, it didn't." Itsuki shrugged. "Well, at the very least, it's nice to know that it wasn't our rather… questionable conversational topics that is sending you home."

"No. In fact, I think I will miss them."

"You know, you can always come back and visit any time you want."

"I know. Thank you. I appreciate it. Everything you've done for me as well."

"Aw, come here." Itsuki knelt down and hugged the Electronic Fairy. "It's only because we love you so. Everyone on the ship did and still does." Itsuki felt hotness on Ruri's cheeks, and she knew she was blushing again. "Kazamo-san, please don't give me an inflated ego. I am just a teenage girl."

"Yes, yes, but you're still our little Ruri, you know. And I'll miss you, and so will everyone else." She glanced at her watch and realized that it was already after ten. "But you better head off to bed, especially if you want to get up early so you can beat the shuttle rush at the station."

"Yes. Good night, Kazamo-san."

"Good night, Ruri-chan."

~*~

Yurika blinked her eyes slowly open as she realized that nothing had woken up her up save for herself. A glance at the clock showed that it was nearly seven in the morning. Probably a good time to get up. She looked up as she squeezed her living teddy bear; Jun was so cute when he was sleeping. Like he didn't have a care in the world, and also like nothing would make him happy. She closed her eyes and wiggled her right-hand fingers a bit, letting herself fall into his dream, the way he usual woke up.

She found herself in a car with some other, much older woman holding Jun's eyes closed. The car was screaming away from some store, and the woman was screaming herself. "Come on, Jun! You have to drive away from Grandma Michael! And if you don't stop hitting things, I'm going to kill you!" Yurika frowned, then climbed into the shotgun seat as Jun turned the wheel wildly, looking absolutely clueless. With a giggle, she placed her mouth close to his ear and whispered. "Wake up, sweetie."

She reopened her eyes and Jun woke up with a start. She smiled and tickled his chin. He was breathing heavy, as if he had run a marathon, or as if he was trying to not crash a car or piss off too many women at once. "What time is it?"

"Almost seven. And Saturday. No work today." She rested her head on his chest and smiled up at him, her fingers playing along his neck. Then she grabbed a cheek and pulled it before sitting up, fixing the straps of her short, white, silk nightgown. "I'm going to check everyone's plans today." Yurika closed her eyes and the next thing she knew, she was scanning each of the task-lists in the minds of all her housemates. It seemed generally clear… until she reached Itsuki's. Number one: Take Ruri to Jump Shuttle Station. 'What?!?' With a quick run of Ruri's, she realized it was true. Number one: Check luggage. Number two: Take Jump Shuttle from Kawasaki to Peaceland.

Yurika leapt out of bed, running over to the dresser to pull some of her clothes out. Jun, sitting up and rubbing his eyes and face groggily, watched her with squinted eyes. "what the hell are you rushing around for?"

"Come on, Junny, get out of bed!"

"But you said its Saturday…"

"But Ruri is going home today!" Yurika glanced at her fiancé, and, noticing he still didn't understand, bombarded Jun with the visuals of the task-lists she just looked over. Jun shook his head, finally coming to as he too got out of bed, albeit more slowly. "Okay, I got it, I got it. But it's still Saturday. What's the huge rush?"

"Because, Jun, I don't know when they're leaving, and I, for one, don't want to be left behind!" Yurika shook her head as she took off her nightgown, reaching for her white tank top. "I don't think you get it, Junny. Ruri is my friend, even if she is nine years younger than me." Once the tank top was on, Yurika began pulling on her blue jeans. "Ruri… inspired me to fantasize about my future you know… even when it wasn't so clear."

"How so?" Jun started to look in his closet for something to wear, but not rushing around like Yurika was. Yurika frowned as she picked up the orange and yellow sweater she chose, and bit her lip as she pulled it on over her head. "I… I kind of feel bad about telling you this, but I once dreamed of marrying Akito and adopting Ruri for our daughter. I was… a very nice dream, though short-lived. It was something I really wanted to do. But I guess the would isn't ideal." At seeing Jun's shoulders become slumped, she felt guilty. "Oh, don't get me wrong, Junny. I still love you and I'm really happy that we're getting married. Things were just… different during the war, and fantasies were all I had then. You understand, right?"

Jun nodded slowly. He reached out for his Nergal off-duty shirt, throwing it on their messy bed. "So… what do you dream about now?" Yurika smiled, a little embarrassed. "Well… I dream about marrying you, obviously. But… we're living out on our own, too. I see myself doing all sorts of things… being a waitress at Peaceful Days, being a Jump Shuttle Jumper, even teaching magic! I do have pretty good control now, don't you think?"

"For throwing it around like crazy, yeah."

"Oh, knock it off. And you… you're a song writer for a successful band. We have one kid, but only one, and we would spoil him or her to death, but still have him or her study like we did when we were in school."

Jun nodded, smiling himself. "It is a rather nice dream." Yurika nodded, but frowned. That was what Yurika dreamed, but what did Junny fantasize about? She opened her mouth to ask, but she was quickly interrupted by a ringing phone. Jun, who was halfway through pulling his pants on, stumbled and reached for the phone. He finally picked it up and fell on the bed, lying on it with his pants half-on. "Moshi-moshi, Yamada-Kazamo residence, Aoi Jun speaking."

Jun was quiet, listening to the other end. Yurika sat down on the edge of their bed, watching his face concerned. His face went from slightly annoyed to in shocked, his jaw falling slack. "Oh my… Thank you, thank you so much! Ye-yes, we'll be in today to sign! This afternoon? All right, we'll be there. Thank you so much!" He turned the phone off and grinned at Yurika. "We got the house in Tokyo ."

Yurika shrieked, and Jun winced at the noise. But then she kissed him upside down, full on the mouth. She then jumped up and down in joy. Jun rolled onto his side and finished pulling his pants up, looking genuinely happy. Yurika hugs him once he had his pants on. While he attempted to finish getting dressed, Yurika began brushing her hair, smiling like she would not stop doing so.

"Jun, what do you see in our future? What do you dream of?" Jun looked at her as he pulled his shirt on, and shook his head. "I'm already happy. I'm engaged to the woman I love, and now, thanks to that phone call, we'll soon be living together, just us."

Yurika frowned, her smile finally dissipating. "You don't ask for much." Jun shook his head, smiling still. "I've learned not to. Last time we were engaged, I asked for too much, and I ended up getting nothing. But now that I'm not asking for anything more than I need, look. We're getting so much more. Everything, even." Yurika's smile came back and she wrapped her arms around his waist. "Yes. Everything and more. Finally."

~*~

TBC…

~*~

A/N: I was kind of shocked that this went so quick, yet for so long. I doubt another chapter will come so quickly, but we ARE getting closer to the turning point, where it all goes wacky for everyone. Keep an eye out. And keep yourself aware of everything. Hints are everywhere. But it will be a while… APs are the devil. Tell me about your anticipation, though, eh? ^^ Toodles. 


	27. 060199 061599

A/N: Good Lord, it has been a while, hasn't it? Well, I suppose I should fill you in as to why. One… I graduated high school! Woo-hoo! And second… I had been working on my original story, but I really missed this story, so I decided to pick it up again! Isn't that great? Well, it appears on this hiatus, I have a couple of things to answer, don't I? Yes, Shadow, yay plot progression! And all I'll say about the killers is that it may be exactly what you expect… or the least expected people of all time. That doesn't narrow it down any, but it sure opens doors, doesn't it? I'm evil, yes. And Ruri is better than Lapis, but I'll get into that later. And the other person who is obviously new… Oh, the Jun and Akito thing. Hah. Hahaha. That's all I'll say on that. But I love Gai's determination. It's so sweet and heart-breaking. Makes you want to squee and melt into a puddle. Anyway… Jun and Yurika aren't married yet! They still have another five months, and as Ryoko and Jun said, anything can happen within those five months. Anyway… Since that's about it, a little thing about these author's notes. I'm not going to put a recap or what to expect anymore. I've just decided that it makes actually reading the fic itself not worth it if you can see what's coming and don't have to remember specifically what happened in some situations, especially things will require details to be noted quite quickly. I love mysteries, don't you? Anyway, I'll just get on with this.

---

"Now arriving in Peaceland Jump Station. We appreciate your choice of transportation and hope you come to ride with us again soon!" Ruri sighed deeply, trying to will her hands to stop shaking and gripping the armrest of her chair in the Jumpers' section of the shuttle. She never could get the hang of Boson Jumping, though she had done it several times now. She got up slowly, her knees shaking, as she pulled her suitcase out of the overhead storage space, pulling the hood of the blue cloak she had opted to wear off her head so she could see. She hadn't wanted to piss her mother off too much when she was just arriving back, so she had opted to wear the cloak, a gift from Hikaru, and a simple dark pink dress that would at least be a bit more "ladylike", as her mother insisted, than the t-shirt and jeans Ruri had considered wearing.

Ruri sighed again as she began to leave the Jumpers' section, having been the only one present in that particular seating wing. She wondered who would come to greet her at the station. She had left a message to Omoikane that she would be returning today, early in the morning. She wondered who he told. It could have been anyone, in his delight. She should have made extra caution and told him to not tell her mother. The last thing she needed was to see her mother so soon after leaving the sad faces of her former housemates on the platform at the Kawasaki Jump Station. Yurika and Akito had hugged her, while the rest of them had given her some choice words of encouragement. But Hikaru was another story all together. She had shared a room with her, and there was no way she was getting away with just a hug and some advice. Ruri got both from her, plus the soft blue cloak that hung around her shoulders. Despite it not really being her color, she liked it nonetheless. A truly precious gift from someone that really cared.

Ruri held her head up as she exited the shuttle, readying herself for the view of her mother. She knew she had supporters in Kawasaki , people who loved her and cared for her. It didn't matter what her mother said or did. They would be there for her when she needed it. They had already proven that. And there was someone else Ruri knew would always be there, and Ruri had missed him dearly.

"RURI-SAMA!" came a childish, yet mechanical shout from the crowd that had gathered there to greet their friends and family. Ruri barely had time to brace herself and let go of her suitcase as the robot pushed through the people gathered and launched himself at his controller, wrapping his arms tightly around her waist as he buried his head into her slowly-developing chest. The nanomachines in Ruri's blood sang at this contact with the robot whose rubbery skin covered an entire nanomachine interface. Ruri smiled, genuinely and happily as she too wrapped her arms around his body, reveling in their connection restored. She felt all of his emotions at once, his loneliness, his longing for her, his happiness at her presence, all of this and much, much more. A single tear escaped Ruri's right eye as she felt it all and pulled Omoikane tight to her, as if she would never let go. She wouldn't. No matter where she went, he would go with her, regardless the risk. The separation was too much. "I missed you too, Omoikane," she whispered.

"Yeah, um, Omoikane, I know you missed her and all, but I did too, you know." Ruri quickly wiped the tear away and glanced over to where Ariko stood, wearing his casuals. He gave her a small little salute and smiled at her. Ruri did her best Hikaru grin back. It seemed appropriate as she let Omoikane pull away, while grasping and getting a firm grip on one of her pale hands. Ruri stepped onto the platform, grabbing her suitcase while she was at it, and walked up to Ariko, who held up a finger. He pointed quickly to his left, and Ruri could see why. Rachiku was there, looking extremely uncomfortable. Ruri let her eyebrows rise. Ariko hadn't been lying when he said Rachiku was now not being a puppet of their mother. But she kept the smile in place as Rachiku turned to the oldest brother and hissed, "When did she start smiling like that?"

"When I started to share a room with a quite vulgar half-Irish woman that taught me a few obscure card games, how to trick people into letting you have their money, and how to smile when all you want to do is cry." Ruri set her suitcase down again and held out her right hand to Rachiku. "I suppose this is our truce, or time to start over, whichever you prefer."

Rachiku stared at the pale hand for a moment, then shook it, looking into her amber eyes. "I'm Rachiku, you're second-to-oldest younger brother. And you are…?"

"Ruri," she said, smiling again. It was a time to start over, after all.

Omoikane tugged on her other hand. "Ruri, shouldn't we be heading back?" Ruri's eyes clouded, and she knew it. She knew they could see she didn't want to go back so soon. Omoikane felt ashamed, Ruri could tell. She sent his a reassuring, wordless message through their connection of hands.

Ariko, not being a robot or a Jumper for that mattered, didn't get it. "We don't have to go back right away," he hurried to say. "We could always stop somewhere and get ice cream or something. There's a million and once ice cream shops here, after all… or we could get pizza –oh wait, I forgot you hate Peaceland pizza…"

Ruri smiled again, more softly so they could tell it was her own smile, not one she borrowed. "No. It's all right if we go home. I could tell you about Yurika and Aoi-san along the way."

"Kanchou and Aoi-san? They're going to get married, right?"

"Captain of the battleship you were on?" asked Rachiku, tilting his head as they all left the station. At her own nod, Ruri continued. "Yes, they are to be wed in November. They were going to buy a house in Tokyo , and they're going to go sign papers for it sometime today."

"That's great! Wow, that'll be two weddings. Two Nadesico weddings, they certainly are starting to act like adults now, aren't they, Ruri?"

Ruri nodded feeling another smile. For not liking to come home, she sure had a lot of smiles. She glanced at the robot that bounced next to her, holding her hand. She felt another one as she interlaced their fingers on her own accord, ignoring Omoikane's shocked expression as she smiled softly at Ariko. "Yes, they certainly are."

---

Hikaru dropped her notebook onto the floor and raced for the door the second she heard the doorbell ring, shoving her feet into the black shoes she set waiting at the door as she flung it open, just to make sure that it was, in fact, the person she was waiting for. It was and, with a grin and a short adjustment of her feet in the black flats, pecked him on the lips. As she then heard the kitchen doors leading out onto the patio and towards the guest house of the mansion, she shouted very clearly into the mostly sleeping house, "Shotgun!"

Uribatake snorted a laugh as he turned, stuck his hands in his pockets and headed for his car, Hikaru already way ahead of him and opening up her own door. Once she was in and situating herself comfortably, he gave her a look and held his hands out, as if asking what he was supposed to do, then shut her door for her as she buckled up her seatbelt. Uribatake rounded the car again to sit himself in the driver's seat as Jun and Yurika also emerged from the house, the former looking rather pissed off and the latter surprisingly buttoning up a maroon sweater. Jun pointed a finger at Hikaru through Uribatake's window, who stuck her tongue out at him as he opened the door to the back of the car.

"Hikaru, you cheated, you little brat. You know perfectly well that you can't call shotgun unless everyone that is going to participate in the trip is present and capable of calling it at the same time!" Hikaru crossed her legs and her arms, sticking her nose up in the air indignantly. "Doesn't matter, since I get seniority anyway. I'm the girlfriend, after all. Besides, Junny, don't you want to sit next to your fiancée?"

Jun was about to say that yes, he did want to sit with Yurika, but the point was that Hikaru cheated when the beginning part of Hikaru's statement sank in. "Wait… what?" he stammered, all of his anger lost. Hikaru looked back at him, wrinkling her nose in shock. "Oh, fine, I see… So if you don't want to sit next to Yurika, your obsession and infatuation…"

Jun shook his head, squeezing his eyes tight as he flapped a hand. "No, no, that's not what I meant. The other thing. What?" Uribatake rolled his eyes as he buckled himself. "Yeah, Hikaru just said she was the girlfriend."

Yurika's eyes got big and she squealed in delight. "Oh my gosh, you guys are going out now? That is so cute! I'm so happy for you, Hikaru! You've been single for… How long?"

Hikaru grinned and pushed her glasses up. "Four years. What can I say? I'm paranoid. But Uri-P is a really, really good friend and a nice guy, so I figure, what the hell, right?" She noticed Jun's eyebrows were still making love to each other. "What?" Yurika rolled her eyes and pinched his thigh, snapping him out of it. "Ouch!"

"Oh, come on, you like it." Uribatake ignored the two in the back as he started the car, glancing over Hikaru's attire. She certainly had dressed up for something as boring as furniture shopping. But maybe it was because they were going out now, but he wasn't sure. What he was sure of was that it wasn't going to get away without a comment. He checked behind him as he began to back his car out of the driveway leading to Yamada Manor. "So, Hikaru, are you just not aware that it's June now, or did someone fail to tell you that summer is rearing it's ugly head when you decided to dress in all black?"

Hikaru looked at her clothes. She had dressed up, sure, as this was the first time they had seen each other since they had got together over the phone three days ago. But certainly a black tank top and black skirt was not a problem, right? "Don't be talking to me about being hot because of clothing. You might want to say something to Yurika though. Giving into her sweater OCD once again…" Hikaru clicked her tongue in disappointment. Yurika wrinkled her nose and folded her arms, as if pulling her maroon sweater closer to her body. "You can just bite me, Hikaru."

"Not until you tell him. Come on! Tell him!"

"Oh! Guess what, Uribatake-san! Junny and I bought a house in Tokyo yesterday!"

"You serious? Wow, I have got to see it sometime. Bring you fruitcake and all that." Hikaru snickered. "Though they won't need that with Junny living there, Uri-P!"

"For the last Flamma-damned time, Hikaru, I am not bi!"

"Maybe not, but you are rather questionable. Even you have to admit that. Quite the femme, I would say."

"Dammit, Hikaru, I am a man, you know!"

"Yes, but Junny," interrupted Yurika, "you do get confused for a woman an awful lot…"

"Yeah, see? It's even surprising that Yurika proposed at all!"

"And just what is that supposed to mean?"

"No offense meant, Yurika, but like I said… Jun's pretty femme, and you have this thing for macho guys. Even Erina was butch, for Aer's sakes!"

"But you forget that I liked Akito once, and Akito is fairly femme himself."

"But Jun beats him any day in that respect. You and I both know that, Yurika. Doesn't help that Jun is a resigned bottom, either. At least Akito fights that one."

"Well, duh, of course I know Jun's bottom."

"No, Jun's the most bottom one in the car!"

"Will you both please stop talking as if I'm not right here! Shut up already! Just because Yurika tops me…"

"Nah, see, the thing is, Junny… If it were anyone else with Yurika, she would be bottom, most likely. But you, you're so easily topped I'm surprised they haven't named a hot dog or ice cream after you. It honestly doesn't matter who you're fucking, Junny. You are a bottom. Simple as that. Easy to dominate. I know about this sort of thing. Yurika can pretty much do whatever she wants."

"Only because it's Yurika!"

"No… you're missing the point. The point is that you're bottom all the time. Hell, you'd probably like a handcuff-thing even if Akito was involved, wouldn't you?"

"Why must you continuously tease me and call me bi?" he whined, covering his face. All of them laughed as Uribatake pulled onto the highway. He joined the discussion as he swerved between traffic. "Because you like it. Tell me you don't."

"I don't."

"He is lying through his teeth. The compulsive liar can tell, Junny!"

"Shut up!"

"Ah!" shrieked Yurika her pointed finger shooting between Hikaru and Uribatake's seats. "Watch out for that semi!" Uribatake easily moved out of the truck's no-view zone, gritting his teeth. "I don't need any backseat drivers, woman!" he shouted, moving at his own rather speedy accord through the accumulated traffic.

Jun's covering of his face soon turned into covering of his head as he chanted, "We're going to die, we're going to die, we're going to die…" Hikaru sighed. "Calm down, would you, please? We haven't even gotten close to hitting anyone yet. You guys are just lucky I'm not driving. We'd still be in the driveway because I drive like such a grandma." Hikaru yawned, closing her eyes. It was early morning, after all. When she reopened them, she could see Jun in the mirror trying to get her attention. She read his lips as he mouthed, "make him drive more sanely." Hikaru glared at him. Jun glared right back. She shook her head and returned her attention to the road.

Her eyes soon found themselves on the mirror once again, and her jaw found itself in her lap. Jun met her eyes in the mirror and was moving his finger in and out of his mouth, obviously trying to exploit her gay man fetish. She twisted in her seat to see him directly behind her. "You knock it off, right now!"

"Make him stop driving crazy!" he hissed, trying to not get the attention of everyone in the car. Hikaru glared at him, then tugged on the short sleeve of Uribatake's shirt. "Yes, Hikaru?"

"Please stop driving nuts so Jun can stop pretending he's in a gay porno, Uri-P. Please?" she whined. Yurika's head whipped around. "And I missed that?!"

"What?" cried Jun. Uribatake only glanced at Hikaru as he slowed down a bit. Hikaru mimicked Jun's motion. Uribatake's own jaw fell, and he shouted at Jun while still driving, "Bad Jun! Trying to make my girlfriend horny!" Hikaru giggled. "No, he didn't."

"I missed that?!" cried Yurika again. Jun whimpered. "Hikaru, did you corrupt her too?"

"What can I say? I have that effect on people."

"I hate you…"

"Hey, you were the one that thought he could exploit my fetish to get what he wants."

---

It was only when much of the furniture of his study, previously consisting of a card table, a computer chair, a filing cabinet, and a couch not unlike the one gracing his living room, had been replaced when Uribatake received a rather strange look from Hikaru. Given the person in question, it was a very strange look indeed. He raised his eyebrows and looked over the tops of his frames at her dark brown eyes. "What's that for?"

"You. I know exactly what you're doing, Uri-P."

"And what is that?" Frankly, even he didn't know what he was doing. Or what made her what appeared to be angry at him. Hikaru was hard to understand sometimes. Sometimes you assumed she was angry when she was really just kidding, other times she said she was kidding hen she really wasn't, and other times, she never had an expression change once, but all of her emotions had taken a shift-change. She was a dangerous woman, and could easily play head-games and get away with it.

"Come on, Uri-P. You don't like white. Most of the furniture I've pointed out that I thought looked cool or interesting you've decided to buy and get delivered. Your whole study is now in white and fake wood! And, let me reiterate: you don't like white."

"Who says I don't like white? White is a perfectly fine color. And who said this was all going to go into my office? I might want to put it in my bedroom!"

Hikaru frowned. "Look at this… See, Uri-P? This is why I was single for so long, and why I can't hold guys. I'm so nit-picky, aren't I?"

"I ain't gonna lie, Hikaru. You kind of are."

"Damn." Hikaru sat down on a black chair in the shape of an X, part of another set up in the study section for the store. "I'm sorry."

"No problem. Besides, I don't think it really matters why I decide to pick the stuff you like. Uribatake inwardly winced. He knew what he said, he even had something else in mind just so he wouldn't say that. But he didn't. There were her narrowed eyes again. She heard it and knew what he said to. He could practically see the gears working in her head.

"You had reasons?"

"Hikaru, come on. Let's just drop it."

"All right! Fine. But… I just want to say: You know I'm not going to move in with you, right, Seiya?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I know." Hikaru nodded, then got up and smiled again, folding her arms behind her back. "well then, by all means, let's go look at more stuff! If all that white stuff's gonna go in your bedroom… maybe you should think about plants too, huh? A couple of potted bushes and stuff… all fake, if you can get them here… Oh, you know what would be so cool?!"

"What?"

"What do you have on your walls in your room now?"

"Uh, a calendar… I think maybe an old poster from when I was a teenager that I just couldn't let go of… That's it, why?"

"Dude, you gotta get some movie and music posters. Don't you think that would be so cool? All that classy-like furniture… and then fun stuff on the walls! It'll be great!"

"All righty then, I'll take your word on it. We'll stop at a media store on the way home, all right?"

"Cool! Okay, let's go look at more office stuff…" Hikaru looked at the one set she had just been sitting at and held her chin in thought, humming as she looked over the darkly stained wooden furniture.

Uribatake did have his reasons for going with what Hikaru pointed out. It wasn't because he shared a preference or anything though. He didn't really care what it looked like, really, other than that it wasn't dingy or sold at the ninety-nine-yen store. The reason he just suddenly agreed to what Hikaru picked out was because of that. She had picked it out. Oh, he knew perfectly well that Hikaru wasn't going to move in with him in the near future. But he really wanted that to happen someday. He did really like her, after all. But having furniture she picked out would, at the very least, lessen his loneliness at home for now.

Maybe he liked her a lot more than he thought. That sort of thing was preposterous. They had been going out for a grand total of three days. But he had liked her for a long time. Ever since the day Admiral Munetake had killed himself. And that really was a long time ago. His attraction to her had probably just grown since then, despite her aversion to his advances during the war. But with so long to grow and with a couple of breakthroughs in recent history, from the date for Hikaru's birthday to the fact that they were together now, was it really warranting a small title of "liking" or "being attracted to"? He guessed the big question was: "Was he in love with her?"

No, of course not. Uribatake Seiya did not fall in love. But how true was that? Despite his claims that he was a bigger playboy than Akatsuki himself, there was only one girl on the Nadesico that he chased at all, whatsoever. That was Hikaru. It would explain a lot of his recent behavior, anyway. Why he had invited her to come furniture shopping with him. Why he had asked her out in the first place. Why he felt ashamed that he was sexually attracted to Minato. Why he wanted Viktor to drop dead. Was the answer to all these questions one simple statement? He had fallen in love with Hikaru?

'Bullshit,' he thought, shaking his head. It was impossible. Uribatake came out of his thought train to discover the redhead he was just thinking about was gone. He looked around him before calling out, "Hikaru?"

"Over here!" he heard, and he found himself heading not more into the office section, but into the living room section. He found Hikaru laying in a blue recliner in a set that was much too floral for Uribatake's taste. Hikaru grinned up at her boyfriend. "This recliner is really comfy. Not upholstered in leather or anything." She sat up and got out of the chair, grabbing his arm and trying to get him to sit in it. "Come on, feel it."

"Hikaru, I am not getting a flowery couch set. I don't care how comfy the recliner is."

"Spoilsport. Just because you're annoying, there's a red set over there." Hikaru pointed across the way, and there was a set that looked exactly like it, only in a solid red, instead of blue and pink flowers.

"Now the red set I'll take any day."

"See, I wanted to see if you'd get the flower one because I liked it."

"Oh hell no. I may be tentatively feeling up your pinky, but I am not wrapped around it and humping it yet."

"You say yet. So there's room for improvement."

"You call that improvement?"

"What can I say, I like being in control. Come on, sit on the red one at least. It's really nice! You could sleep on these things."

"Which reminds me. We need to stop by beds before we leave officially. I need a new one."

"Score! I get to pick Uri-P's sleeping quarters!"

"I was a little afraid of what you were going to say."

"No, we're around too many people who can just throw us out. I'm trying to behave."

"I'm touched."

"No, I told you I'm trying to behave."

"Ha ha."

---

Jun ticked off what they had picked out off his fingers. Appliances, refrigerator, stove, washer, dryer, dishwasher. Lamps, both floor and table. End tables, coffee table, desks, and dining table. Dining chairs, relaxing chairs, couch, desk chairs. TV, stereo, shower curtain, bookshelves. It looked like they had just about everything. Except one thing. And Yurika was the first to notice.

"Only one more thing to get, Jun! We need to pick out our sex-bed!"

Jun already was prepared and ready to agree that yes, they were in desperate need of a bed when her words reached his now raging red ears. "Eh, uh, what?"

"Come on, Junny, focus! We are engaged and we're moving in together. The most important furniture item we need is the sex-bed!"

Yurika was already heading towards the bed section. Jun struggled to keep up, most of his blood rushing to his face as he realized that Yurika was talking a bit too loud for his tastes, especially with this subject in public. "But, Yurika, I don't think I follow. Just why is it… the most important piece of furniture?"

Yurika sighed in exasperation, then stopped, facing Jun. "Jun, this whole moving in together thing is to see if we can handle each other, with no family or friends living with us. To see if we can handle day-to-day, menial tasks like washing dishes, or making dinner, or…"

"Or… sleeping together?"

"You say it as if we haven't done it yet."

"But we're going to be having sex every night?"

"Well, no. But that is another arena where we have to try each other out in."

"But you just said… Yurika, we're ALREADY fucked!"

"Say it a little louder, why don't you. And what is the point you're trying to make?"

"Well, doesn't that count as trying each other out?"

"No." It was such a short answer, but it made so much sense. Jun was dumbfounded by such a simple answer and all that it implied when Yurika's green eyes darted past his head. Her face lit up as she gasped. "Oh my God of Spirit, look at this one!" Yurika walked past Jun, turning him so he could see it. She stood next to the bed with her arms out, looking absolutely entranced by the set the store had set up.

It was a four poster bed made with some sort of darkly stained wood. The posts held nothing up, but there were metal bars hooked between them. They looked to be somewhat gold in color, not in plating, and looked to be the perfect size for hooks to hang up some sort of curtain around the bed. There wasn't one up now, but it was obvious Yurika had one in mind. The headboard and lining on the frame of the bed was of a soft leather, very obviously fake, but still had a nice feel to it. Smooth, as if one would just slide right off it. But the covers on the bed were something else entirely. Where the frame promised to let you slip right on out, it was the bedclothes that swore to hold you in forever. It was a majestic sanguine, because red is so much less than it. It was a color Jun instantly fell in love with. So dark, yet still able to be recognized. And with the trim in both a soft black and a hard gold, Jun knew it would probably be the most attractive bed he'd ever seen in his life. Attractive BED? How on Earth could a bed be attractive?

'Like this.' Yurika grinned and walked up to it, sitting down right on the side of the raised bed. It apparently had to have a step up to reach it. That was something that didn't fly with Jun. The bed was so high up they needed to go up a stair to reach it? What if someone fell out? Not that he ever fell out of bed of course… but if this was supposed to be a sex-bed… who knew what could happen?

Yurika lay down on it and sighed deeply. "Oh, this is so very comfortable. This is perfect. The perfect sex-bed. This is what I had envisioned when we came here today, and we found it." She stretched her arms above her head and squeezed her eyes shut, reveling in the feeling of the bed under her spine. She knew Hikaru was right and Jun would be feeling it more on his back than she would, but who knew what could happen in five months? Jun could get a grip of his aggression in that time and apply it to where Yurika would mind it the very least. But Yurika had no problem topping Jun or anything. It was nice to show the rookie the ropes. She reopened her eyes, feeling a bit sated in her choice. If they didn't order this bed, she would probably just steal it herself. It was exactly, everything she wanted.

Jun scratched the back of his head. "Well, um… Yurika, are you sure this is what you want? Our sex-bed, that is?" Jun knew for sure that it was what she wanted, that she was right. It was their perfect sex-bed. And he was a man. Who was he to turn down a beautiful woman who demanded this sort of thing from him? But… the thought of actually sleeping in this bed didn't reach him. It almost looked like they would have to get a bit of a tamer bed just to get some rest in it. The one Yurika was laying on didn't look like it was going to get much inactivity.

Yurika sat up a bit, resting back on her elbows. Then she smiled and shook her head, making her previously perfectly groomed hair a bit messier, a bit more bed-ridden. She knew Jun would need a bit of convincing before agreeing to anything that would be deemed a "sex-bed", especially if Yurika also deemed it worthy of sleep. And she did. Some sheer red curtains around the bed and it could be a very comfortable little room. A little room to either fuck in or rest in, that would determine itself later. She unbuttoned her maroon sweater, letting it show more of her torso in her white-and-red tank top. She rearranged her legs so they were obviously a bit apart, but not enough to make her feel like a whore. Just enough. From there, she glanced over at her fiancé, keeping her head down so she could look at him through her blue-violet lashes. Although she didn't express it, she jumped inside with glee as Jun's already rather pink face turned redder than his nanocontroller on his hand. He squeaked, his tense visage showing his honest difficulty in facing a completely seductive Yurika on a very seductive bed. "Okay, we'll get it."

"Great!" cried Yurika, jumping up and running her fingers through her hair, trying to bring them into a better state of order than she had at the time. She led her fiancé to the cash counter. "Hi there, we'd also like to order that bed over there."

"Well, I'm sorry miss, but I don't think we have that model in stock anymore."

"Then I want the floor model." Yurika glared down the clerk. She had just found the perfect, perfect bed. She had even gotten Jun to agree to it. Now, no redhead girlie was going to tell her no. Not after she had done all of that.

"Well, I'll have to get the manager to agree to it…"

"Can you, please?" Yurika smiled brightly, knowing full well from her time as captain that it got things done. The girl nodded and headed towards the back. A moment later an older woman came out, chewing on a toothpick. She rested an elbow on the counter. "So, you want that floor model over there?" At Yurika's vigorous nod, she sighed. "Well, it will cost less than the usual model, because we're just giving you that one, but when we figure in the price of the sheets… you do want the sheets, right?"

"Yeah. And can we also get one of those see-through curtains in red too?"

"I suppose. It's going to get a bit pricey then, that's one of our best sets."

"It doesn't matter to me." Yurika already was reaching into her purse for her checkbook. Her bank account was rather healthy, though now she was a bit worried about how sick it was probably getting. She had had her money that had added up during the war in there, along with all that she had earned as a Jump subject with Nergal. Jun also had his money from the war, but most of that was going towards the house. It was only right that Yurika paid for most of the furniture with her own money.

Jun whistled as the large woman read off the price of the set, the sheets, and the curtain Yurika also order. Yurika shook her head, said it was no trouble, and gave the two women their new address. Sure to mention that they were just going to move there sometime soon, Yurika ripped the check away and handed it to the larger of the two women. She glanced it over, then looked at Yurika with a raised eyebrow. "You're Misumaru Yurika? I've heard that name recently."

"Yeah. I used to be the captain of the Nadesico. But with the war over and all, I'm just your regular coffee shop waitress." Yurika grinned, obviously not mentioning her other, more interesting career choice in being a scientific experiment. But she seemed to take that as a perfect answer and ran the register for the younger girl. Apparently she was in training still.

"I don't know… the war's been over for a while. I meant recently. Like something about you being a wanted criminal." She eyes flashed up to glare at Yurika, but Yurika was suddenly out of sight. Not because she had run off, but because Jun now stood in front of her, and he was just about her size, if only a bit bigger. "She is not a wanted criminal. She may have been questioned, but she's a witness, not a suspect. Not anymore."

"I don't need to be spoken to like this in my establishment." She printed up something quick and handed it to him. "It will be delivered next Saturday, not this coming, but next. And I suggest you Jumpers get out before I find a reason to call the cops."

Jun was three seconds away from showing this bigot of a woman know just how deadly Flamma's Rage was in full effect when he felt Yurika's hand on his shoulder. "Jun, let's just go." He glanced at her and watched her shake her head quickly, leaving herself. A faint silver glow from Yurika's right hand indicated that Yurika was using her magic, but on whom, Jun didn't know. It was only when Hikaru and Uribatake met with them at the door that Jun realized that Yurika was showing Hikaru what happened.

They were silent until the glass doors closed, then Hikaru threw up her arms in anger, growling at the top of her lungs. "Those assholes! I sure hope you threatened to torch them and everything they had, Junny, because they may have a small case of the Wizard of Oz sometime soon, if you get my meaning."

"Trust me, I thought about it.

"I don't know what's going on. They got all prejudiced against Jumpers?"

"Not really. The owner of the place practically called Yurika a murderer."

"And I'm not!"

"We know that, Yurika. Aer-damn them to the five layers of hell. Let them roast in peace. Aer, this pisses me off so much!"

"So I suppose it's time to head home then?"

"It looks like it. Look, Uribatake-san, I'm really sorry to cut this short…"

"Oh, it's no problem, right, Uri-P? We were pretty much done to begin with anyway."

"'We'?"

"No problem at all."

"Wait, hold on, 'we'? Hikaru, is there something you're not telling us?"

"Nope, nothing to tell."

"Hikaru!"

"Yurika, I really don't think that it really was anything. Just slip of the tongue or something."

"You mean, other than the fact that she was practically picking out all my furniture?"

"You totally let me, Uri-P!"

"I didn't think Hikaru was really the domineering type. Shows what I know."

"Shut the fuck up, Junny!"

"The only one who orders Junny around is me, Hikaru!"

"Yes, captain!"

"Hikaru, sarcasm."

"Yurika, make him stop it!"

"Good God, they're both that aggressive?"

"I guess. And they used to room together. You know, before Yurika and I started fucking."

"Ha, still a funny thought."

"Only because he's so virginal in personality."

"Time for you to shut the fuck up, Hikaru!"

"Good Goddess of Air, Junny… I'm gonna miss you."

---

It had been several minutes, but as Akito laid a hand on his chest, he found his heart was still beating quickly, though no longer pounding. He took a long, calming breath before rolling his head to the side, reaching over to play with the ever-growing bushy hair of his boyfriend and lover. Gai snickered and shook his head, resting it on her crossed arms. "Aer's Nose, Akito. You never fucking told me that it hurt so much." He twisted his face up into that of discomfort and wriggled a bit.

Akito smiled and twirled his finger in Gai's hair. "Well, it's been a while since we first had sex. You get used to it after a while. You're just lucky we had that extra tube, or it would have REALLY hurt." Gai frowned and turned his head to face the headboard, his mouth hidden by his arms. Akito frowned as well and turned to his side, watching Gai's expression. It looked contemplative, in that he stared off into space and Akito could tell he was chewing his lip. What could he possibly be thinking about? Akito thought back to what he said. Did Gai not think he was ever going to get used to it? Or was this silence… Did it mean this was a one-time good-deal? That it wouldn't happen again in a million years?

Akito's mental worrying was interrupted by Gai's soft, muffled voice. "I meant what I said, you know. All that about this working out. I really do want it." Akito nodded slowly, turning over to his other side. Gai knew him better than he thought. He knew Akito would have been worrying that this was the only time something like this would happen. Although Akito was a bit worried, no fucking session was going to erase what Gai had done earlier from his mind.

It had been while Akito was looking through the mail for the past week stacked up on the desk in the foyer for anything of his own when Gai had gotten him to follow into the bar so he could talk to him. The bar, coming off the dining room, was barely ever used, despite the many tables and chairs inside. It probably had something to do with the fact that they barely ever drank, these that were legal to do so, or it probably had something to do with the fact that it had no TV, books, or anything to entertain with. So it was dark and a tad bit dusty when Gai had gotten Akito inside, until he had turned on the ceiling lights.

Akito hadn't been entirely sure why he had followed Gai into this abandoned room except for the statement that had drawn him into this position: "We need to talk." It was an obvious one, but one that Akito had known needed to be said for this specific conversation to begin.

"Akito, there's no denying we have problems."

"Who's denying it? I'm not."

"I know, I'm just… Akito, I've been thinking." Gai had begun scratching the back of his head nervously, all the while chewing on his lip. Both two old nervous habits Akito knew like the back of his hand. Akito had crossed his arms and waited for Gai to begin. He cleared his throat.

"Akito, I love you. So much that I really don't want to lose you. But the only way we can stay together and be happy is if we try to make this work, instead of just riding it as we go."

"I understand. And… And I love you too. We really do need to work these things out. Like how you can be overbearing."

"And how you can be controlling and threatening as well?"

"Yeah. I suppose."

Gai had sighed and shaken his head. "Akito, we both know those are just personality quirks. They aren't going to die. But we can put them away. If we can't look past our own pet peeves… we can't stay together."

"And we want to still be together."

"Right."

"Then what do you suggest? How do you suggest we do this?"

It had been then that Gai had fallen to his knees and grasped Akito's hand, looking up at the Martian with a very determined expression. "I will do everything in my power to make this work, Akito. I swear it on my life. I will do everything I can. But… Akito, you have to tell me when there is a problem. When you aren't happy. Because… actions do speak louder than words, but they hurt more too."

Akito had shaken his own head, feeling a bit sad for this man throwing himself at his feet, waiting to be trampled on. It was all Gai ever did. It had been then and only then that Akito had realized what he had been doing to Gai. He had been abusing his heart, and he never wanted to do such a thing to a person he once identified as his best friend. He had pulled Gai up to his feet and placed both of his hands on Gai's cheeks, forcing Gai to meet his eyes.

"I have to apologize, Gai. I've walked all over you and blamed you for it. I… I even flirted with Jun. It wasn't until… well, now, that I realized that I may have felt something for him. What it was, either lust or something else, I'm not sure, but I don't care any more. Jun may be my best friend now, but I love you. I've… I've been selfish. I've been a complete and total selfish bitch and I haven't thought about you at all. What you felt, what you were thinking, none of that. I feel like such an idiot. But… I want this to work. Just as much as you do." Gai had smiled. Not his half-smile, half-grin expressions that he often did while laughing, but one of those perfect smiles that showed no teeth, that proved that he was so truly happy that he couldn't bring himself to smile. He had whispered softly, "I'm glad," before Akito had felt his lover's arms around his waist and had found himself kissing those barely curved lips.

It was those same arms around his waist that brought Akito back to the present. Those same lips at the base of his neck, right before his shoulders fanned out. Akito smiled and pushed back into the embrace. Gai was meant to be like this; loving, caring, and a gentleman to boot. It was in his blood. No… it was in his soul. It was something about him that Akito hoped he would never put away, even if it was occasionally irritating. But it was his compromise that made him so much more responsive to this treatment. Akito would get his sexual freedom if Gai had the freedom to be himself. It had been a compromise Akito wouldn't soon forget, and wouldn't soon regret as well.

For the first time in a while, Akito was involved with someone and, for all purposes of the word, happy. Akito felt a laugh bubble in his throat that didn't get a chance to escape as he thought strangely about Hikaru, even in this moment. He would have so much fun proving her wrong. He could be happy with someone, and not bitchy. Because it was hard to be bitchy when you had something like this.

---

It was such a motherly activity, writing a shopping list. While most people considered cooking, cleaning, or giving appropriate care for the members of a family to be some of the more motherly tasks, Minato found that it was actually writing a shopping list that reminded her the most of her mother. Not that she had very many good memories of the one that had given birth to her, but it was still a maternal feeling Minato didn't actually think she would ever feel. But that, she supposed, was before she had her would-be sister-in-law come under her care.

Even when her parents went from getting-by to deadbeat, Minato was never actually taking care of her brother. She brought home the money, yes, with her secretary job up at Asuka, but they both generally fended for themselves, going out and buying their own groceries, sucking it up whenever they were sick, cooking and cleaning for themselves, the whole works. Minato never figured herself the working mother type, but here she was. And even though she had legal custody of Yukina, it wasn't as if she had adopted her. They were still able to consider each other sisters. But since Minato was significantly older, she found herself taking the position more and more of Yukina's mother.

And it was in this position that Minato found her thoughts interrupted by an opening front door and some rather loud conversation. Minato glanced at the pile of letters next to her again and added another item before setting the notebook she was writing in to her side and rising up to meet the girl that was in her thoughts.

Yukina and her new friend, Ayame were in the little alcove surrounding the front door, switching out shoes and putting down schoolbags. They appeared to be chattering about the exams they took today and what they were going to do over the summer. After all, today had been the last day of school for the semester. But their conversation was cut short as Minato leaned against the wall on the step above them. "Welcome home, Yukina, and hello there, Ayame-chan." Minato had met Yukina a couple of weeks before, when Yukina had arrived with the timid girl in tow. Minato had later mentioned how very shy and avoidant Yukina's new, and only friend in school was. Yukina had brushed off the subject and figured that that was just the people she got along with, especially with her temper.

Ayame smiled and bowed deeply. "It's nice to see you again, Haruka-san," said she, in her somewhat squeaky, yet soft voice. Minato nodded and looked to Yukina as the two girls entered the house. "How were exams today, girls?"

"Oh Good GOD of Spirit, Minato! It was absolute MURDER! A multiple choice and five, count 'em, FIVE essays! Magus, I thought I was gonna die!"

"I felt a bit challenged on the English portion, but I felt that the basic biology exam was simple enough."

"Well done, Ayame-chan! I'm sure you're grandfather will be pleased when you receive your scores." Minato grinned at Ayame's blush, then glared at Yukina. "I sure hope I'll be happy with yours."

"Yeah, yeah… I thought I did okay, even if it was very hard." Yukina walked into the kitchen and pulled out two cans of soda, handing one to her friend. Ayame took it and thanked Yukina before opening it. "But now it's smooth sailing until next semester! I'm so happy." Yukina grinned and gave Minato a thumbs-up before taking a long drink from the can. When she was done, she let out a gasp dramatically.

"But don't you have summer homework?"

"Yes, we do. I suggested to Yukina that we begin right away, so that we don't forget what we learned over the year."

"Ayame, I told you that we should wait 'til later in the summer so we'll go back in fresh!"

"Nice try, slacker," interjected Minato crossed her arms over her gold tank top. Ayame covered her mouth, obviously trying not to giggle at Yukina's indignant expression. It was the look that Yukina knew Minato was right, but didn't know how to argue. So Yukina quickly retaliated with the only response she had: a raspberry. Minato rolled her eyes. Ayame let her giggle out, and laid a hand on Yukina's uniform sleeve. "I'll head off to your room and get us ready to work on the English homework. I already know I'm going to need help with that." With that, Ayame left the kitchen, leaving Minato and Yukina alone.

Yukina was just about to leave grumbling when Minato stopped her. "Hold on. There are a few things… we need to talk about." She motioned for her would-be sister-in-law to sit at the counter while Minato went back into the living room, where she grabbed the stack of mail she had received that day. She thumbed through the bills and letters until she pulled out a certain letter and another official piece of mail before returning to the Kitchen to see Yukina sitting on the counter. Without a thought to it, Minato held up the official letter. "This, Yukina, would be the application to Murray Academy , the private school that specializes on the sciences. They already have a high tolerance of Jumpers among their populace, since Boson Jumping is a new scientific field and all. I sent away for it in case you wanted to go." When Yukina said nothing, Minato continued, setting the letter down. "Yukina, I need to know your final answer about where you're going next year. This place… I think it would be better on your state of mind. You don't have to worry about other students or any administrators being hard on you for your heritage."

"But it would keep me struggling to keep up, and there wouldn't be anything they would teach that I would like. Yukina hopped off the counter and drank from her soda calmly. Minato shook her head. "I'm not pushing you to go. I would like it better if you don't have to struggle through your studies. I'm just saying that… If you want to go, here's your window. But I need to know. Do you want to go?"

"No." It was a quick answer that Minato was sure came a little too quick. But Yukina looked determined. "I mean, sure, this past semester was hard because I had people glaring at me and actively making my life rough just because I'm from Jupiter. But… I've finally made a good friend there. And that's a sign that things are getting better there, right? While the whole school's against me, if I get a friend? Besides, I don't even listen to the Jumper-haters anymore." Yukina glanced at her right hand, at the silver markings decorating it. She had stopped wearing gloves soon after Ayame had become friends with her. It just didn't seem to matter anymore what they thought. Now she let her nanocontroller show with pride. Yukina held her head up high and smiled at Minato. "Besides, Oniichan would hate it if he died so I could let a few assholes get to me."

"Language, Yukina."

"Sorry."

"But I'm glad. You're maturing above those your own age, and I think Tsukumo would be proud of that." Yukina blushed and nodded, then began to leave. Minato stopped her though by picking up the other letter she had brought. "Wait, there's something else we should probably talk about."

"But… Ayame's waiting…!"

"No, I'm not." Ayame was standing in the doorway into the kitchen. "I got everything ready, but I came to see what was holding her up. I'm sorry." Ayame bowed deeply again and Minato brushed the problem away with a hand in the air. "No problem. This last one is just a family thing. Feel free to eavesdrop!" At Minato's wink, Ayame blushed.

"Well, I received a letter today, you, see, Yukina…" She took the letter out of the envelope and looked it over again. Yukina waited impatiently. "And? What, is it from Meg or something? Oh, did they catch who offed Mythos?"

"Mythos Entrada… the former emperor of Ninlan, right?" Minato nodded at Ayame's following, but shook her head quickly to Yukina. "No, they didn't, and no, it's not from her. It would have been all over the news if they had. But no, it's… from my little brother, Toju. He's been in college since before the war started, and he's out for the semester this week as well. He… well, he wants to come and stay with us over the summer break. I was just wondering if you're all right with that?"

"You mean I finally get to meet my brother-in-law!?"

"Well, yes!"

"Well then, by all means! Yay! You hear that, Ayame? My brother-in-law's gonna come and stay with us!"

"You haven't met him yet?"

"Nah. He's been stuck up learning out to make computer games and video games and stuff. Minato's bro is a real geek."

"I'm not going to deny it! But that's all I wanted to say, Yukina. Just wanted to make sure you're all right with that."

"All right? Better than all right! I'm downright excited! Woo! Does he have to sleep on the couch or something?"

"I don't really know yet… we have to work out the details."

"Um, I'd hate to be an old stick-in-the-mud, but… Yukina, we should probably really get started on our summer homework."

"Huh? Oh, yeah, sure. Wow, this is so great, Ayame, you don't even know…" Yukina voice faded as they both entered her room in the hallway. Minato smiled. One step down off the motherly feeling. She asked how Yukina felt about Toju coming and staying over the summer. If Minato was anything like her mother, she would have just let Toju come.

Minato sat back down on the couch and picked up her grocery list. It was amazing how much Yukina had become such a huge part of her life. Minato hadn't actually seen Toju for… what, almost three years now? And Yukina, she had been in close contact with her for about a year or so. But Yukina was her would-be sister-in-law after all. Minato hoped that Toju was just as excited to meet is in-law sibling was Yukina was to meet him.

Though Minato was worried. There was very little she had told Toju about Yukina, for fear that he may have some sort of hate for Jumpers. After all, much could change in three years, as they discovered. Very much.

---

Especially after the incident that left the Emperor and Empress shaken and without one of their most trusted advisors, security over who went in and came out of the Ecclesiastical Palace was heightened to such proportions that the Emperor himself either had to come out and greet you, or you were escorted in by no less than three guards. But there tended to be the occasional visitor that had no problems getting in or out, and it was most likely because they were in close contact to both of the rulers of Ninlan. It just so happened that Genichiro was one of these occasional visitors. With a nod and a glare at the pair of guards that denied him access into the building he was actually a common visitor of, he was granted access, but not without a quick rise in the temperature of the area. Genichiro entered casually, but was a bit confused at the lack of anyone in the throne room, save for Megumi's Metallo. Metallo noticed him and tried to run up to him and most likely scratch up his pants and whine for a rub. Genichiro ignored the puppy as he went into the left doors towards the dining area. Noticing that who he was in search of was in the room, he shut Metallo out into the throne room.

Genichiro had opened his mouth to speak to the emperor of Ninlan, but quickly screwed into a sneer of confusion. At least he had something to get Rumiko's attention with. "With all due respect, my lord, what in the hell are you listening to?"

Rumiko appeared jarred out of his thoughts as his head whipped around rather quickly to see who it was. He visibly relaxed as he realized that it was Genichiro, then turned back to the table he was seated at, pulling the needle of his phonograph up so that the music came to a halt. "It was Meg's suggestion. I've been a bit of a wreck with this Lennon issue. She suggested that I listen to some of her music while I sign these treaties and agreements." Rumiko wrote another thing down before relaxing into his seat, sighing heavily. "Not that it has helped much…"

"Actually, my lord, I came to discuss the Lennon issue." Genichiro pulled out the green chair next to Rumiko and seated himself. "Quite frankly, I want to know just what could have possibly compelled you to let them go off and make their own nation, seceding from the empire."

"Megan suggested it."

"Ah, I see." Rumiko quickly frowned, which was met with Genichiro's bowed head. "Forgive me, my lord."

"How many times must I tell you to stop that 'my lord' garbage? Magus knows you're pretty much nobility around here yourself. And just what did that mean?"

"I just wish that the Empress wasn't so much of an influence in your diplomatic decisions, my lord. After all… it isn't as if she is a native Ninlander. How do you know that her intentions are for the good of Ninlan as a whole?"

"Might I remind you, Genichiro, that you aren't a native Ninlander yourself? And I trust Meg. You've known her longer than I, and you know that she was just as politically focused as I, if not more so, because she was the one that told me about this situation."

"But, my lord… her influence over your decisions! If you had no contact with the lady, what would you have done about Lennon?"

"I thought you liked Meg, Genichiro." Rumiko pushed his chair out and stood, clasping his hands behind his back and looked to the red, tan, and black tiling in the floor. Genichiro struggled for an answer. "Yes, yes of course, my lord..."

"And while Meg is not a native Ninlander, her interests are for the best for Ninlan. The reason we allowed Lennon their independence is because she informed me of all the details of the War for Lunar Autonomy some one-hundred years ago." Genichiro fell silent. The War for Lunar Autonomy was the War that was covered up by the evil Earth Government, when all the Lunarians wanted was freedom and independence. It was a tragic event that had essentially led to the Lizard War, a war no one on either side wanted in the first place. In essence, Genichiro should have been prompted by this statement to not argue this with Rumiko any longer. But there was one distinct difference between the War for Lunar Autonomy and Lennon's desire for independence.

"My lord, while that would have been the best choice for Earth's government at the time, we have a certain problem of trying to fit in to the System Alliance. We can't afford to lose Lennon when the officials of the Alliance are watching our every move. They will think us a weak nation, my lord!"

Rumiko shook his head and pushed his hair back, turning to face his friend and trustworthy confidant. "We are a weak nation, it is that reason that we must allow Lennon to do as they please. Ninlan has suffered millennia of the empire's harsh rule. We now have the chance to break the deeply in-sown idea that the Ninlandish empire is made up of a bunch of liars and murderers. We must let Lennon go to show that we aren't power-hungry anymore, that our people and their own needs and desires come first. If that makes us appear weak to the Alliance members, then let them think so. In truth, it only makes us stronger."

Genichiro stood and bowed deeply after a few moments of contemplating this set of logic. "I apologize for my insolence, my lord."

"How many times do I have to tell you about that? And it's all right. Politics are difficult and make my head hurt. How about some tea?" Right before Rumiko could get someone to brew them up a fresh pot, the door leading into the throne room flung open, Metallo running in happily. Megumi pulled her black hood off her head and her hair out of her cloak, letting it hand loose. She shook the newspaper in her hand. "Rumiko, you'll never believe this!"

"My lady." Another deep bow from Genichiro. Megumi blew a raspberry. "Knock off the 'lady' stuff, Genichiro. Good to see you gave us a visit."

"What is it this time, Meg? Lennon hating us so much that they decided to declare war on Ninlan?"

"No. But it is what you've wanted to hear about." Megumi held the paper up so the top headline could be seen: "Murderous Signature Identified: Serial Killer is a Martian!"

---

"Moshi-moshi. You have reached the residence of Doctor Inez Fressange. Regrettably, I am not able to reach the phone. You may either attempt to reach my lab at Nergal Headquarters by calling one-three-six… five-six-four-oh, or by leaving a message with your name, number, message, and best time to contact you. Thank you." Beep.

Inez swore as she kicked the door to her apartment closed and set the two bags in her hands on the couch. She stumbled to reach the phone in her kitchen as a rather familiar, throaty voice came over the machine.

"Uh, hey, Inez, it's me again… I was just calling you again to see if everything is all right, because everyone is starting to get worried… I mean, I am too, but… Just give me a call when you're actually HOME and… Just know that I love you. Bye." Inez had grabbed the phone just as Izumi's voice cut out, letting out a tortured groan. She hung the phone back up, set it to her ear, and dialed Izumi's number. Only one ring got out before Izumi's voice sounded amused in Inez's ear. "What, did you just get in the door or something?"

"I'm afraid so. I reached the phone just as you bid me goodbye. Rather frustrating." Inez leaned against the counter and pushed a strand of messy hair behind her ear. She wanted nothing more than a good bath and some sleep, but Inez was certainly not someone who would turn down talking to her girlfriend, especially after being so busy these past few days. She had been feeling a bit guilty that she had not contacted Izumi since the big news came out four days ago.

"Where have you been? I've been worried sick." Inez glanced at her answering machine. A digital six blinked at her, and she smiled, letting out a short snort of laughter. "I can see that. Six messages?"

"Well, after we heard what they discovered over the news, it didn't take long for the cops to show. Took Akito and Yurika for questioning. They wanted to knock out all the Martians, I guess."

"Yes. Since there are technically only four in existence, it doesn't surprise me that they also took in Tenkawa and Yurika for interrogation. Both Kaguya and myself were also taken in."  
"So it was Kaguya? How come they aren't releasing that information to the public?"

"What? No. No, it wasn't Kaguya. They kept us both for quite a while, and I'm sure we're under surveillance, but there isn't any guarantees about this. Why do you ask?"

"Well, Akito and Yurika came back pretty quickly after they were picked up. They said their alibis and such checked out. And if you're home… I figured that Kaguya was the culprit, since there are only four Martians, and three are safe."

Inez sighed deeply and turned so that she was not facing the counter any longer. She should have been putting her groceries away, but she found herself slipping into "Explanation Lady" mode, a feeling she barely ever got time to indulge in. "Izumi, I'm going to explain this the same way I did to the interrogators."

Izumi chuckled at the word "explain". "All right, shoot."

"You see, in their findings that the Jumper involved in the killings is in fact from Mars they didn't really narrow it down much. The first assumption, obviously, is that the only living Martians, Tenkawa, Yurika, Kaguya, and myself, are among the only ones who could have committed this crime. However, it is easy to forget that we are working with a Jumper here, and one well-versed in our current events, based on their targets for attack. If they narrow the Jumper down to being Martian, they have to realize that, while there are currently only four living Martians, this person they are searching for could be from the past or the future. There have been many, many Martians in the past, either from the time of the Martian Empire, or from the very first colonies on Mars. And the possibilities for future Martians are endless, particularly if we consider the fact that it is being repopulated and colonized. People have children on Mars, and suddenly there is a whole new generation of Martian Jumpers, any of which could easily have the ability to Jump back to our present and commit the crimes. Do you understand what I mean?"

"That it really isn't a big deal whether they figured out if the Jumper involved is Martian or not? Yeah. I see the problem. But… didn't they already have this problem when they discovered there was a Jumper involved, at all?"

"To a degree. At least, some of the past Jumpers could have been easily ruled out. Earthling Jumpers, Lunar Jumpers, Colonist Jumpers, and Ninlandish Jumpers of the past were easily ruled out, yes. But they still had all of our later future to deal with. It did narrow it down greatly, but…"

"It's still a huge subset?"

"They may never catch this person, particularly because it's a Jumper."

"Huh. Well… I remember them saying that it was Yurika's signature in particular that appeared in most… No, ALL of the crime scenes."

"You're not serious? And they didn't arrest Yurika on the spot?"

"Had a reasoning for each one. Think about it, Inez. Kusakabe, Yurika may have broken out at him during the peace negotiations. Aqua Crimson, Yurika could have broken out at her when she threatened Akito's life. Mythos Entrada, we know Yurika used magic on him."

"Hm. So the tying factor between each of the murders is… Yurika." Inez fell silent. It made too much sense. It would have been so easy for it to be Yurika. Too easy. Setting it up was so simple.

"Pretty much. Scary stuff."

"I just don't understand why Yurika isn't behind bars then."

"Inez! You aren't saying it was her!"

"No. I'm not. But you must understand Izumi, what would Yurika be like in any number of years? Could she become a ruthless killer bent on anarchy? What could happen that would possibly change Yurika in such a way?"

"Nothing. I don't believe for a second that Yurika could do this. She hates killing people. She hated it during the war, when it was her job."

"I know. And I understand. But the window is still there."

"Yeah. I get it. So how come you haven't been home?"

"Well, on top of getting Hari up to perfection, and some nanomachine experiments in regards to Jumping, most of the time I've just had the local authorities breathing down my neck."

"Yikes. Even Yurika and Akito answered just a few questions and came back on home. How long did they keep you?"

"Much longer, I'm afraid. Both Kaguya and I only had alibis with Erina, since we're both here most of the time."

"And they weren't going to take that."

"No. Just about the only reason we got to leave was because there wasn't a motive for either of us, and no other proof that it was either of us."

"And then you explained how narrowing it down to Martians isn't much help, or at least not the great help they thought it was."

"Right."

"Aqua, Inez. How the hell are they going to catch these guys?"

"Catching them in the act. Of course, they need to determine a motive to guess their next attack."

"But how can they do that without knowing who it is?"

"Precisely. These serial killers have created quite the paradox for authorities to deal with. I pity them, in a way."

"Me too. Let's get off this subject. It's getting really depressing."

"Not to mention frightening."

"Right. So what's with these nanomachine experiments?"

"Well, it's not something I'm telling everyone about yet, for obvious reasons... but I'm sure I can trust you."

"Of course."

"Well, we already know what happened to those that received nanomachine treatment prior to the unlocking of the Jump Computer; they all became Jumpers. But what about those that received nanomachine treatment AFTER?"

"Hmm. Interesting."

"Quite, actually. No one knows, because there hasn't been a need for it. With all of the Jumpers around to pilot robots for the colonies, there hasn't been another nanomachine injection since I unlocked the computer. Well… none that have been recorded, anyway."

"So what do you think?"

"Personally? I think that they are just the same old pilot-types all of the new Jumpers used to be. I'm not sure though. I don't know how the nanomachines in one's blood, newly placed, would respond to the message the Computer is transmitting to them, but it can't be good."

"Yikes, we may have some deaths because of that."

"Right."

This continued on for about an hour: Inez explaining the details of her experiment, Izumi makes assumptions and asking questions. It was only when Inez glanced at her watch that she realized how long she had been standing there. "Oh, Terra. Izumi, I should really get off the phone. I've let my groceries sit on the couch for over an hour."

"Yikes! You should go take care of those! Wait, wait, wait."

"Yes?"

"You wanted to know when Jun and Yurika are moving out, right? So that you could help out and all… You still up for it?"

"Sure. Tell me when to come on up. You and I both know I can pretty much take off whenever I feel the need."

"Yeah, their furniture is showing up at their new house this coming Saturday, so they want to get their stuff over there too."

"So they're leaving this Saturday?"

"Pretty much."

"How are you about it?"

"Oh, me? Well, I've gotten used to the idea. I think it would be good for them. To get away from us and actually be a couple. I mean… I'll miss them, but…"

"They're moving on with their lives."

"Yeah."

"And you feel like you aren't moving far in yours?"

"Yeah. I mean… I work in one of the biggest concentrations of former Nadesico crew members outside of Nergal. That isn't exactly moving on."

"But you are doing something different. You aren't a pilot anymore. You're a coffee shop girl."

"Heh, yeah, I guess. But that would mean that Ryoko isn't moving on, but I really think she is. She's just extraordinarily good at piloting, and that's just what she chose to do."

"I was under the impression that she was a security guard."

"Well, yes, but she's also a test pilot. But… I guess I am moving on, to a degree. Much more than Hikaru."

"She's still unemployed?"

"Hikaru just wasn't made to have a job, I think. She keeps saying she's going to be a manga artist, she's going to be a manga artist, but competition is killing her. She's been turned down by two editors already."

"How is she with that?"

"She gets by. She always smiles and waves it away as if it doesn't bother her, but I can tell. I can't explain it, but she sees it as a challenge to do better and show those guys up."

"I never did understand her. But count me in for Saturday. I'll cancel anything I have planned that I can't think of."

"Oh, you don't have to do that."

"I insist."

"Well then… Got a piece of paper? I'll give you the address." Inez picked up a dry-erase marker and readied herself at the white board stuck to her refrigerator. She quickly wrote the address for Jun and Yurika's house as Izumi slowly gave the house number and street name. Inez capped her marker and stuck it back to the refrigerator as well.

"What time?"

"I'd say about eight in the morning. Kind of early for Saturday, but I guess they figure if they're going to have their guys lugging around a bunch of furniture, they'll do it in the morning, when it's cooler."

"Sounds logical. All right. I'll be there and ready to help."

"Great. Now go take care of your groceries before they get any more disgusting. Heh."

"Ha ha, Izumi. You might want to head to bed early tonight. That was more horrible than usual."

"I aim to please. Good night, Inez."

"Good night. I love you."

"Love you too. Bye."

"Bye." Inez hung up the phone and sighed deeply, taking her glasses off and holding her hand on her forehead, pushing her blonde bangs up. She glared down at the floor before shaking her head and replacing her glasses, going to go finally put her groceries away.

Talking to Izumi nowadays was hard, very hard. The sheer amounts of guilt for not talking to her were immense to say the least, let alone some of Inez's actions when she didn't have Izumi there to worry about seeing.

Terra, it would have been so much easier for her if Izumi was right there, in Hiratsuka , so Inez wouldn't have a reason to let everything stack up. They could deal with every little thing Inez had to do as it came, instead of storing it away for later. It wasn't as if Inez had cheated on Izumi, but if she had any clue what Inez had to do during her daily life in dealing with Erina and her demands, Izumi would leave Inez on the spot. Gathering information, being abnormally familiar with the crime scenes, neutralizing the Nergal position between all of the System Alliance's nations, all very suspicious tasks Inez had done recently that made her wonder curiously as to what exactly Erina was planning. Did they want to do an investigation of their own? Or was there something much, much deeper afoot?

Inez just hoped to all five Gods that Inez wouldn't later prove to be the Jumper that could Jump back to the crime scenes to kill those that, in her mind, were already dead.

---

Yurika broke the surface of the water and, taking a quick breath, went back down to smooth her hair back. Then she paddled over to the side, where Akito was now seating himself, rolling up his pant legs to stick his bare feet into the water. Akito took a sip of his soda and nodded to Yurika. "Hey."

"Hey. Where's Junny and Hikaru?"

"Jun's in the parlor, reading, Hikaru… I think she went to the library." Surprisingly enough, despite it being the middle of the week, Yurika and Akito were given the day off at Peaceful Days. Gareiru had joked that they didn't want a pair of serial killers in their facility, which met him with the business end of How Mei's wok. How Mei insisted that it was because they had had such a stressful week last week, and with Yurika moving into Tokyo this coming weekend, they needed all the vacation time they could get. "You know, I think you're the first one in the pool since we all moved here."

"Really? Well, since we're leaving officially in three days, I wanted to get a little time in. You have no idea how much this pool has been beckoning to me since I moved here." Yurika rung out her blue-violet hair before whipping it back over her shoulder. Akito stared off into space, obviously in such a deep thought about something, Yurika had a slight clue as to what that something was. She almost actually let him alone as she thought about another lap around the pool. But he had come to join her. If he wanted to just come outside, there was a bench over there by the showers, and a hot tub up the hill. He could have gone to either of those places. But he came and sat by the pool, where she had been already for about twenty minutes. She cocked her head as she noticed the fact that he had rolled his jeans up to his knees.

Akito yelped out and yanked his wet legs out of the water, swinging them out so he could sit sideways on the edge of the pool. He rubbed the stinging skin on his left calf and glare at Yurika. "I don't know what I did to warrant you trying to yank my precious hair out…"

"Nothing really. I was just wondering why you came on out here."

"Well, I've been thinking. You know… We really haven't put this time to good use. With you… being here and all."

"Why, Akito, whatever do you mean?"

"Cut the sarcasm. You know exactly what I mean. We're both still on each other's cases all the time, nitpicking and fighting. I may not look like it… But I'm really sick and tired of fighting with you, Yurika."

Yurika frowned and leaned against the wall, folding her arms on it and resting her cheek on them, looking at her childhood friend. "I don't like to fight with you either. But we've tried to let bygones be bygones before, and it's never worked."

"Why do you suppose?"

"You haven't let go of the fact that I called you childish."

"Now wait just a second here, Yurika!" he shouted pulling himself up so her stood, fisting his hands on his hips. "If you could have found a better reason to dump me than an insult in the first place –"

"I'm sorry." Yurika interrupted Akito's fully-loaded rant with an apology neither of them expected. "I was wrong about that. You see, looking back… it wasn't you that was childish. It was the whole situation. Our going out, I mean. It's not like we were really a good fit anyway."

"Yeah. We're a little too much alike." Akito sat back down and starting ticking them off on his fingers. "Stubborn, annoying, not always there brightest crayon in the box…" Yurika rolled her eyes and sighed in exasperation. "Gee, thanks, Akito."

"No, I mean it. It really wasn't going to work, and I was naïve to think so."

"I think I was too. I mean… we may both act a bit immature at times, but… We're both adults, and our relationship was based only on our friendship we had as kids. We both had changed a lot over the years in between. I think that's why we couldn't have worked out."

"But what does it all matter?" Akito threw a hand up, interrupting Yurika's process of thought. "I'm in love with Gai now, and you're going to marry Jun. We're not going to be together ever again, and that's just how things are. What's the point of contemplating the why and how of it? It happened, and that's that."

Yurika frowned. "Well… I was thinking that, maybe, if we figured out why we couldn't work out romantically, we could work to become friends."

"I don't think so." Yurika let her mouth hang open and her eyebrows knit, staring at Akito incredulously. He just sat there, scratching his neck. "Why not?"

"Think about it, Yurika. The only real interaction we had during the war was you hanging off me like a hormonal school girl. After the war, we've been at each other's throats. We can't exactly build a very strong friendship on that. Like, at all."

"But can't we just… start over?"

"I don't think so Yurika. A little too much water has passed under the bridge, you know? A little too many negative emotions between us for us to forge any real positive ones."

Yurika backed up away from the wall and crossed her arms over the purple top of her bikini. She stared down into the clear water of the pool, her hair still in the water swirling around aimlessly. "Does that mean that you hate me, Akito?"

"what? No. I just… I just don't think a friendship between us would survive long enough for it to be anything real. Not anything we can look at and honestly say that we're good friends. I don't hate you. Besides, if I hated you, I wouldn't be giving my consent at you and Junny's wedding come November."

"So you still want us to be together? Jun and I, I mean?"

"Yeah. Whether we're friends or not, you make Jun happy. And I… well, all of us really, we love Jun to death. He's one of my, if not my best friend. And I want him to be happy, no matter what that means. I'll do what I can to give him that."

Yurika smiled softly. "Wow… Akito, I never really… I never really see you so defensive of people. You're really devoted to Jun, aren't you?"

"No. It isn't just Jun, you know. All of us… we're all best friends. The closest friends I've ever had in my life. That's the main reason we live together, because we all are pretty devoted to each other. Even if Ryoko had no idea that Jun is her stepbrother, she'd still agree to give consent. Heck, even if you picked someone off the wall for your Assist, like Hikaru, or even Itsuki, they would go through with it for him. Because he's one of our own. He's like all our brother, not just a distant almost-stepbrother by law and concept, you know?"

Yurika nodded slowly smiling. "You guys are all so close. I think it's really nice." Akito nodded slowly, and escaped into his own thoughts.

Yurika glared into the water before taking a deep breath and heading back for the nearest long side, all the while thinking. It was nice that they were all such good friends, but Yurika wished she could be part of that circle. But there was something that was obvious. Yurika knew for a fact that their bond had been forged long before Yurika had any real connection with any of them, back during the war, when she was still stalking Akito with all her might. There was obviously no chance in hell she was ever going to be a part of that, whether she wanted to or not.

She just hoped she could be there for Jun like his friends would be for quite a long time. After all, when it came to that, she had some bad records and a great deal of competition.

---

Hari had been so busy enjoying to of his birthday gifts he had received from his parents almost a week ago he hadn't realized that Lapis had entered the computer department's break lounge until she dropped her own personal laptop on one of the empty desks in the room. Hari pulled his headphones off and paused his video game, glancing back behind him as the younger of them opened her laptop ferociously and held her hands over the nanomachine interface inside. Hari had a similar laptop, but hers looked like it saw more use. Well, of course. She was the assistant head of the computer networks around here. It made sense. Hari got up from the blue sofa and walked cautiously over to the blue-and-green desk, laying a hand on Lapis's shoulder, trying not to startle her too much as he attempted to grab her attention out of the digital world she was about to immerse herself in.

Lapis's yellow eyes, which were beginning to show the electronic stare they achieved when connecting to the Asuka-style computer, came back into focus as she glared up at Hari. "Yes? What is it?"

"You just seem angry, that's all. I was just wondering what the problem was." Hari didn't really feel the need to explain himself. Despite the fact that he and Lapis barely had contact anymore, they still knew each other like the back of their hands, because of what was on the backs of their hands. Their time together on the Gardenia was short, but the fact that they had to be in perfect synchronization at all time to control the small battleship was enough so that they were almost always in each other's minds, knowing what the other was thinking without asking or being told. Hari seemed to just take this for granted then, but now he felt a little worried that he had no real idea why Lapis was so angry.

Lapis turned her glare from Hari to the screen on her laptop, a small, light blue ball bouncing slowly on a darker blue background. "I would think it obvious. I go to battle with her so often; you would think I would have won over her by now." Hari nodded slowly. They both knew who she meant. Ruri. "I'm sorry, Lapis. When was the last time you encountered her?"

"Two weeks ago. I found Omoikane hacking Nergal, so I decided that it was high time to hack Omoikane."

"But it didn't go well."

"No."

"And you're still mad about it?"

"Of course. But it seems that while I have nothing to occupy my attentions, it is only then that my knowledge that she has, yet again, bested me comes back to challenge me." Hari noticed, to his shock, that Lapis's yellow eyes fluttered closed, a small tear tracking down her face. She turned away from him, as if ashamed. He tightened his grip on her shoulder. "Hey, Lapis… You know I'll be here for you, right? To help you out?"

Lapis wiped the tear away quickly and glared at him with her full force, her pale face slowly reddening. "What do you care? You idolize her. You must think it's funny that I cannot defeat her when we happen upon each other again and again! You know you are gloating on the inside when you hear that your precious First Fairy has conquered me, the person CREATED to be better than her."

Hari shook his head quickly. "No. No, that's not true, Lapis. I… I may think highly of the Princess, but… But you're my friend. My partner on the Gardenia. And I know you can do anything. But… Sometimes you need help, you know? Everyone needs a little help sometimes."

"Everyone human, maybe." Lapis stubbornly crossed her arms and leaned back in the green chair she sat in. Hari frowned. "Whether you like it or not, Lapis, you're human just like the rest of us. Not a machine."

"My life would be better if I was a machine. I wouldn't be susceptible to mediocrity, or emotion, or even death." Lapis set her pale mouth into a firm line, her face losing it's angered blush. Hari looked at her, incredulous. "You don't mean that."

"Yes, I do. What is the point of being human when all you get is hurt?"

"That's what making human so worthwhile!" Lapis blinked once before meeting eyes with Hari again. He continued, regardless. "Overcoming our inadequacies, enjoying our triumphs, making the most of everything… That's what makes being human so much better than being an unfeeling machine."

Lapis fell silent and closed her laptop slowly. Once it clicked closed, she closed her eyes and held it. "Where did you learn so much about being human?" She looked up at him, her stoic face not showing any emotion whatsoever. Not that it needed to. "You're an Electronic Fairy."

"Yeah. I guess I am." Hari scratched the back of his head. "But… I was raised as nobody special at first, you know?" Lapis frowned. She had always been an Electronic Fairy. She was meant to be one. She sometimes forgot that Hari was not like Ruri and herself. He had started out as a normal child before he became an Electronic Fairy.

Hari cleared his throat and glanced at the clock on the wall. Eleven at night. "Look, it's gettin' kind of late. I think I'm gonna head off, but I want something to eat first. You want anything?"

"No." Lapis shook her head, and Hari shrugged, returning to his video game long enough to save it and turn it and the TV off. Then, with a wave and a bid good night, he left Lapis alone in the lounge. Lapis smiled softly as she rose, intending on returning to her own room.

Hari was interesting. He was so much like her, being of the same beliefs, save for that human and machine discussion they just had, and he was also an Electronic Fairy, so he had gone through many of the same experiences she had. They had served on the same battleship, even. But… he was also so very different. He was still kind, even after his training with Nergal, something Lapis didn't understand. She knew he didn't mean it, but when he spoke of how wonderful it was to be human, he made her ashamed of herself.

She openly condemned humanity for most of her life. It was just what she knew that humanity was an awful concept, that the world would work so much better if they just tossed that understanding away. But it also included compassion as one of its greatest aspects. An aspect openly projected in this boy, the one she synced with so many times on the Gardenia, that she knew his mind just as well as her own. Did being human really mean being kind?

Lapis physically stopped in the dimly lit hallway. Wait. That was it. That was the answer. The answer she was searching for. Her rival, her nemesis was able to defeat her again and again because that was where her power truly lied. Of course. Why hadn't Lapis seen it before? No wonder she kept being bested. Ruri had compassion and kindness on her side, in the form of Omoikane. Ruri was kind and loving to him, which made her a powerful adversary. Lapis would never beat her that way. That was why the Gardenia needed both Lapis and Hari. Because it was only then that they could be as powerful as Ruri.

Hari was right. Lapis didn't want to admit it, but he was right. She was in need of help to finally win over Ruri. His help. She smiled and continued on her way to her room. Oh, this time she would win, for sure. This time, it would be different.

---

"Dear Ariko,"

That was all she had. No body, nothing to say, nothing. She honestly could not think of how to begin this letter. So much had happened since she had seen him last, honestly contacted him. She made a friend. School ended. She heard that Ruri went to stay with the pilots in Kawasaki , and left soon after. That whole business with Martians getting pointed at when it came to who was up to this murder thing happened. Ninlan had a nation secede from its empire. She would soon be meeting her brother-in-law. She missed him terribly. She wanted to know when he was going to come visit her. She wanted to come to Peaceland. He would always be her best friend. She wanted to know if he had a girlfriend yet.

Yukina looked back at her bedroom door to make sure Minato hadn't snuck up on her. It wasn't all that late, and she had told Minato she was going to go to her room to work on her history homework. Yukina had quickly lost interest in reading all about Earth's history and decided to write a letter to Ariko. She hadn't in a while, but now that she was lying on her purple covers with clipboard, paper, and blue pen firmly in her mouth, she couldn't think of where to possibly begin.

"Damn," she whispered, placing the tip of the pen back on the sheet of paper. Well, she might as well wing it. Even if it didn't make sense, at least she would have somewhere to start. She whispered her words as she wrote them, kicking her legs into the air as she rambled on paper.

"I'm sorry I haven't written in a while, but life's been pretty hectic. I don't really even know where to start talking about all that has happened so far since we last were in contact. Well, maybe I should get the pleasantries out of the way first. I really miss you, and I can't wait until I see you again. Hopefully, either I can go to Peaceland sometime this summer, or you can come on over to Tokyo . Hopefully the latter because I know how crazy your family can get." Yurika drew a small smiley face and smiled herself at the thought. Ariko coming to Tokyo would be a better choice, but it was the least likely, especially with Haruka Toju heading over the next week.

"Well, when school was still in, I made a new friend. Kind of amazing, huh? Especially since my school has pretty much hated my existence for most of the semester. But apparently she didn't know about how they all hated me, and had no problems becoming friends with a Jumper, not to mention a Jupiterian. Her name is Kahaya Ayame, and she's kind of dorky looking. But she reminds me a lot of you. She's a bit shy, and somewhat timid, but at the same time, she has no problem in going against what her parents, or rather in her case, grandfather, says. She actually thinks my life is interesting, can you believe that? Minato likes her too. She said it was a good thing for me to be making friends outside of the Nadesico crew. I'm still sort of amazed myself. I have a friend that is an Earthling and wasn't on the Nadesico. I never would have heard of such a thing during the war, but I guess it goes to show how things can change for the better over time."

Yukina tapped the pen against her mouth, trying to think. She didn't want to spend the majority of the letter talking about her new friend. It would make Ariko a bit jealous. And Yukina had a feeling that if Ariko got jealous, it wouldn't be funny. It would be sad, because he may become depressed. She nodded her head, her side-ponytail of braids that she spent the majority of that day creating brushing her shoulder annoyingly. She pushed the auburn twists behind her shoulder and placed the tip of her pen back on the paper.

"But I think that's enough about that. Well, obviously, school's out for the summer, and I'm actually procrastinating a bit on my summer homework. Can you believe it? Is that all I do when I write to you? I'm just kidding. I just find that it's when I have to be doing homework that I really want to write to you. Otherwise I'm doing things I want to write to you about!" Yukina drew another smiley face. She really seemed to be in the mood to joke around with her best friend, even if he was on the other side of the world.

"But anyway… I heard Ruri left to live with the pilots, then went back. How was that? Why did she leave, anyway? Is it because of your mom and your brothers? I really wish I knew the details of things. But all I ever hear is the stuff Minato tells me. And that's already second-hand info. But I suppose everything is okay now, since Ruri is back? It must have been hard to be at your house with no allies. Man, I remember during the Peace Ball… You could cut the tension with a knife, it was so bad. I could tell, and I was really enjoying myself there. I haven't heard anything to that degree, but I really, really hope things have gotten better there…"

Yukina frowned. Thinking about that bitch Gwynth made her skin crawl and her teeth grid. Of course, it never seemed to take much to make Yukina hate someone, but there was a very small list. Genichiro wasn't a big part of that list anymore. Kusakabe was on it, even though he was dead. And Gwynth was most definitely on it. Yukina would love nothing more than to have the chance to punch Ruri and Ariko's mother in the jaw. She took a deep breath to calm herself. She didn't want to end up writing that in her letter. Who knew if Gwynth was crazy enough to read through his mail from her? Magus, that crazy bitch made Yukina want to kill!

"But let's get off that subject before I say something ugly. You heard about the Ninlan thing, right? Some nation called Lennon wanting to secede from the empire, and they get the go-ahead from Rumiko-san? I say good job to him. Of course, it won't make Ninlan look very good in front of the System Alliance or Union or whatever they're called, but at least he won't have to worry about them declaring war against them. At least Ninlan can learn from Earth's mistakes, right? I smell Megumi-san's hand in it, of course, but I never really thought Rumiko was really all that great of a political figure anyway.

"And there's that Martian bit too. Only four Martians in existence and they figure out that it's a Martian that's been Jumping around killing the big-wigs of the world? Why haven't they arrested Kaguya yet? It's obviously not Kanchou or Tenkawa-san. They're both too nice for that sort of thing. Miss Fressange, I wonder about, even when she was my magic teacher. She hides things too much for someone that likes to explain things. But she wouldn't do it either. She's just not the type, you know? So it has to be Kaguya. So why isn't she in the doghouse yet?! I don't understand these people."

Yukina sighed. Sometimes she was a bit too opinionated for her own good. It didn't bring out the best in herself either. Yukina cringed and tried to move on before she got on a real soap box. "I'm just a stupid teenager though, so what do I know. Magus, you have absolutely no idea how relaxing summer vacation is, homework and all. But I can tell Minato is on edge. See, next week, her little brother Toju is going to come in and stay with us during the summer. He's going to college to learn to be a game designer. One of those geeks, you know. Kind of like Amano-san or something. But this'll be the first time Minato sees him since, like… before the war started. And I've never seen him at all, obviously. I wonder what he'll think of me. Minato is worried he may be one of those crazy anti-Jumper enthusiasts. Well, I say he'll just have to get over it if that's the case. I was born like this and there's no changing it. Really, most of these anti-Jumper freaks need to realize that themselves, you know? That most of the Jumpers didn't have a choice in the matter, so just get over it and on with our lives. Oh, there I go back on my soapbox again… I need to knock that off. So Minato is frantically cleaning and making sure we have enough food and soap and toilet paper and random things like that. I'm just fearing for my computer time and our internet bill, you know? But beyond that, I'm really excited. Toju is like my brother-in-law, I guess, and it'll be great to meet some of the family I have now, especially since Minato is pretty much my legal guardian. Even if Oniichan and Minato didn't get married, it was sort of a new addition to Oniichan's will. I didn't even know he had one until Child Services showed up a long time ago. Minato just started spouting off all this stuff, and she showed me that it was all true. Oniichan wanted me to stay with her."

Yukina sighed at the thought of her brother. So much he had missed. Yukina didn't think of him often, but just when she thought of why she was staying with Minato. Minato herself did remind her of him a little, but not so much anymore. They had both banded together because of their grief, and Minato was more her sister now than while her brother was alive.

"I don't think there is anything else. I miss you. I miss you so much that you probably would be a little scared. Think I was a stalker or something. I don't know how Minato does it. She gets so little contact with her own best friend, but I will probably wait by the mailbox for your responding letter. Hope that doesn't make me sound too pathetic. It's just… I miss you, and I really want to see you. I can't wait until I do, actually. Makes me wonder, really."

The next line Yukina really debated silently whether to write or not. It could be so very incriminating, but she wondered just how nice the answer would be. She already knew Ariko had a crush on her, but what's to say that hadn't changed? So, taking a deep breath in anticipation, she wrote it.

"Do you have a girlfriend yet?"

Yukina shook her head and, not wanting to throw away an hour or so's worth of work on a letter, she quickly signed it, "Love, Yukina." She folded the pages into threes and set it on her nightstand. Then she got up and walked away from her bed, fearing her logical mind might take over and force her to go and rip the pages up.

Tomorrow, she would mail it tomorrow and hope she got a good response. Yukina had never been so worried in her life. And she told herself that her worry was baseless. But it didn't make it go away. Ariko would understand, right? It was just an innocent question, right? He wouldn't say he thought she was a sick person for even suggesting such a thing, especially since she was two years older.

Right?

---

Hikaru never bothered to knock on Izumi's door. There just wasn't a point. Hikaru had already seen Izumi naked on various accounts anyway, so it wouldn't matter if Izumi was changing. And Izumi's girlfriend was way the hell in Hiratsuka . No fear of Izumi being busy that way. And that was why Hikaru just waltzed into Izumi's room, which was somewhat dim at the moment, and sat down on Izumi's bed, where Izumi sat in herself, in her pajamas, reading. Hikaru grasped the spine of the thick hardcover book, lifting it so she could read the title. "'The Resurrection of the Musician.' Huh. I heard good things about this one."

"It might be the fact that it suggests that it will have graphic sex in it, but it doesn't. Protect the children and everything." Izumi closed the book, placing her bookmark where she was. "Just reading a little before bed. Got work tomorrow."

"But it's the last day this week, right? I mean, didn't everyone get Saturday off so we can all help Yurika and Junny?"

"Yeah. As far as I know they did."

"Did you ever call Miss Fressange?"

"Yes, and she will be there right when we get there, ready to help unpack boxes and move furniture."

"Man, Izumi, we are gonna freak her out."

"Fat chance. Inez was Nadesico crew too, remember?"

"Yeah, I remember, but she isn't in our little thing, you know?"

"I know. But it isn't like she isn't welcome."

"Right. She's just not in with us, in our little circle and all."

"She could be. Yurika wedged herself in pretty efficiently."

"I guess she did. Hey, what did she say about that whole Martian thing?"

Izumi bent her knees and wrapped her arms around them, thinking. It was still a touchy subject, since both Yurika and Akito were Martians, not to mention Izumi's girlfriend. Even Hikaru, who was notorious for saying the obvious without regards to how touchy a subject might be, called it that Martian "thing." "She said she and Kaguya were kept a bit longer than Yurika and Akito, mostly because of their close ties to Erina."

"Ah, I see. They suspect Erina then?"

"Maybe. But there's no real reason for Nergal to be involved. They've got to be a bit more worried about their reputation that to be deal with this sort of thing. Nergal doesn't look pretty to the public, you know."

Hiakru sighed and played with one of the small braids that circled her head. "Says Inez."

"Hikaru!" Hikaru shook her head. "I hate to say it Izumi, but… you may love her, and while I totally respect that… I don't trust her. Not when it comes to Nergal's standing on things. She's too tightly involved, you know? And I haven't trusted Nergal since they made us think we were fighting aliens when we were really fighting humans."

Izumi snorted a laugh and sat up straight again. "The UEAF fooled us too." Hikaru grinned. "Well, Izumi, you know exactly how I feel about the military!" She laughed before letting her expression become more serious. "So which one of them did it?"

"See, Inez explained the same thing to them that she told me. Just because they figured out it's a Martian, doesn't mean that they just narrowed their suspect list down to four people. Martians are natural Jumpers, yes, but what does that mean about all the other Martians that have ever existed, or ever will exist?"

"Ah, so she thinks that it could be Martians from the Ancient Empire, or it could even be the Martians that will eventually be born there, right? Not necessarily just her, Yurika, Akito, or Kaguya?"

"Right."

"Well, I do have to admit, it makes a LOT of sense. I wouldn't even be surprised if that was the case. I mean, they ARE dealing with Jumpers here." Hikaru fell silent, fixing the folds in her black dress that she had worn for the majority of the day. "What else did she say?"

Izumi bit her lip. "Well… she told me about some experiments she's been doing."

"Yeah? What about 'em?"

"She was… a bit cryptic about them… Hikaru, I have your confidence to keep this under wraps. She made me promise to keep quiet about them."

"Always."

"Thanks. See, Inez has these concerns about people that may be receiving nanomachine treatment after the unlocking of the Jump Computer. The only reason I'm telling you is…" Hikaru held up a hand, silencing the taller woman. "Say no more. You know I would defend you, and I know you'd reciprocate. Besides, we both know I did better in Biology in high school."

"Thanks. What do you think?"

Hikaru held her chin in thought. "Hmm. Well, nanomachine acceptance is pretty risky as it is. The receiver has to have a lowered immune system, otherwise the body could quickly reject the nanomachines. Normally, this isn't a problem, you know? The person would just be sick for a few days, and then it would 'come out the other end,' as Yurika once so eloquently put it." Hikaru smiled to bring back one on Izumi's face and stood, beginning to pace around Izumi's large bedroom. "But… if the nanomachines are being ordered by the Jump Computer to rewrite DNA… It could be a big problem."

"How big?"

"Worst case? It could be fatal. Especially if the receiver is already having problems. If they reject the nanomachines in time, they could be fine. If not… the nanomachines could rewrite some of their body's DNA, and then the body could turn on itself. Goes against it's concept of self and non-self, you know?" Hikaru stopped and waved her hands in front of her. "Of course, I'm just speculating based on what I remember. I could be totally wrong. But…" her face fell, "Izumi… you don't think she's doing human experiments with this, do you?"

Izumi couldn't find an answer. She knew that, long before they figured out organic Boson Jumping, Erina orchestrated human experiments to see if they could Jump a human to Jupiter. She also knew Inez frowned upon such things, but knew they were sometimes necessary. Inez wanted Izumi to keep this quiet so the media wouldn't jump all over it, and Erina wouldn't here about it, but why?

Hikaru knelt to the side of Izumi's bed and grasped her friend's pale hands. "I never meant to make you not trust Inez. She's made you happy, even though you've had some tough times. Don't you worry. I'll just… I'll not trust Inez for the both of us! So you can love and not worry, because I'm keeping my eyes on things."

Izumi smiled softly. "Thank you, Hikaru." Hikaru grinned and stood, waving her hands in the air. "It's nothing! What are best friends for?"

"Keeping each other's back?"

"Exactly! And that's what I'm doing!" Hikaru walked towards the door, opened it and stuck her head back into Izumi's room. "Thanks for keeping me posted."

"Sure."

"Now go to bed, woman! You got work tomorrow."

"Shut up and go do something, Hikaru."

"I will. Nighty."

"'Night."

---

Minato entered the Mugendai hangar to find that Uribatake was perched on a high set of rolling stairs, which were positioned to one of the gray Aestivalis's arms, which is exactly what Uribatake seemed to be working on. He appeared to be in deep concentration, but Minato could barely tell where she was at, on the floor. She held a hand to her mouth. "Hey! Uribatake-san!"

Uribatake looked to have lost his balance at the yell, but didn't fall. He just leaned on the gray, metallic arm before turning to look over his shoulder. As he pushed his glasses up, Minato held up a thick stack of folders. "I'm just down here to get this week's budget from this department. Did you get all the paperwork for it done?"

Uribatake scratched his head. "Yeah, I got 'em done. Finished them this morning. It's on the desk in that room over there." He pointed a bit to Minato's left. Sure enough, there was a room off the hangar she hadn't noticed before. She held a hand up in thanks before headed over there and opening the door.

Her face instantly scrunched up in the horrid smell of Uribatake's office. It reeked of some sort of engine oil, but also of rotten eggs and sweat-soaked socks. Minato politely just pinched her nose and grabbed the folder on the desk, which was thankfully relatively close to the door. She left, shutting the door behind her as she thumbed through the contents. It looked like it was all there. She closed it and headed toward the exit of the large room.

She stopped abruptly as she heard Uribatake shout out in pain. She quickly turned at the animalistic yell which quickly turned into a rather colorful string of curses. Of course, being a shared secretary of both Gai and Itsuki, Minato had no qualms in hearing the line of obscenities. What she did have, on the other had, was a passing thought of worry as to what made him make such an anguished and agonizing shout?

Sure enough, Uribatake seemed hurt, but only in his hand. He yanked the latex glove off his left hand and stuck his fingers in his mouth. Minato's worry dissipated. He appeared to have just jammed his fingers. Still, she did feel a bit obligated to say something, anything. Holding the stack of folders to her chest, she shouted out, "What are you doing, anyway?"

Uribatake shook his injured hand before ripping of the latex glove on his other hand, dropping them where he stood as he started to descend the stairs. He stopped halfway and glanced up at the prototype frame. "I was attaching the filling and launching mechanism for the new missiles. Though, you know," he continued walking down, "Yamada and Kazamo might want to consider putting the inside the arms, you know? So that the hands can fire the missiles. It would lower arm mass and improve limb agility. But… I guess we'll just have to see how it works on the test on Monday. Besides, that would also slow the hands down, even if it didn't slow the arms down anyway, and I don't Subaru would be very pleased with that. But it might not be a good idea, on second thought. It could make gunfire and hand-to-hand a bit more difficult. It all just depends on the test on Monday and how it goes."

Minato nodded slowly, her own eyes scanning the machine. For seeing most of its development, it probably should not have seemed like such an amazingly huge job. But it did impress her nonetheless, awe overtaking her other emotions as she glanced at the monstrous mechanical creature. She smiled softly and hugged the folders closer to her. "You'll have to tell me how that goes."

"What, you're not going to be there?"

Minato shook her head. "No. I have to go pick up my brother at the airport on Monday."

"I didn't know you had a brother."

"Well, I do. Not many know though. He was busy in college during the war, and he'll be starting his last year come fall, unless he can get another loan out."

"Sounds like a good kid. What's he studying, if you don't mind my asking?"

"Game design." Uribatake let out a hearty guffaw at her response. "I see! So you're brother is a geek." Minato laughed with him. "Yeah, I suppose you could say that. He's going to be spending the summer with us, to cut costs and all."

"Good plan. What does Yukina think about it?"

"Yukina is downright excited. This'll be the first time she meets her brother-in-law, so I expect she's a little nervous too. But right now, I think she's just getting annoyed with my rather obsessive cleaning, if I don't say so myself."

"Obsessive cleaning?"

"Well, I want to make a good impression. He may be my brother, but I haven't seen him in three years."

"Wow. That's a long time to not see family. You didn't even see him when we all mutinied from the Nadesico?"

"When we were on the run? No. Yukina and I just went with Aoi-san, Tenkawa-san, and Yurika to Sasebo ."

"Ah. I see." Both Uribatake and Minato fell silent. Uribatake turned and unlocked the stairs' position, obviously preparing to move it back to wherever he got it, or at least to another location.

Minato frowned. Their current silence was like so many before. With as little the could find to talk about between them, you would have thought that they hadn't served on the same battleship, that they were connected only by their employers now. She didn't like that. What kind of gossip was she, if she didn't talk to people?

"You know, we've never really talked like this before," she said without thinking. Thinking that she should just run through with it, Minato straightened her shoulders. "I think we should take advantage of it. How are things with you?"

Uribatake looked behind him to where she stood, then continued pushing the stairs into place. "Well… I'm expecting some furniture to show up on my doorstep on Tuesday, so I'm not going to be in so Hikaru and I can sort it all out…"

"Hikaru?"

"Yeah." Uribatake scratched the back of his head as he locked the stairs back in place, against one of the massive walls. "We've been going out for… about two weeks now."

"Wow, I'm impressed. You didn't seem the type to have a girlfriend. But Hikaru is so young! Isn't she…"

"Ten years younger than me? Yeah. But neither of us worry about it. I'm immature for my age anyway." Uribatake grinned and scratched his head again, a bit embarrassed. Minato cocked her head to the side, some her loose hair trailing over her shoulder to her front. "But you're only five years older than me!"

"Really?" He appeared incredulous now. "The way you're so focused and serious all the time, I thought you WERE my age." Minato shook her head. "No. I'm just… I just gotta stay in good shape for Yukina's sake."

"But don't you ever date or anything? Have fun?"

Minato shook her head slowly. "No." She didn't know why, but it was so easy to answer. It felt like the most obvious answer in the world, but it didn't hurt her or make her feel bad to say it. She just… said it. But the response she got was odd.

Uribatake smacked his forehead with a hand. "Oh no, Minato! You're not doing that whole 'waiting for death so you can be with Shiratori' thing, are you?"

Minato frowned and answered quickly and indignantly. "No. I'm not. I just… I don't feel the need to date or look for a boyfriend. I'm happy with my life now, without one. It's fine the way it is."

After she said that, they both fell silent once again. Maybe this was why they could never talk. It was all obviously loaded and full of uncomfortable feelings. Uribatake coughed to clear his throat, fisting his hand in front of his mouth. He put a hand on his hip and gestured to the folders in Minato's arms. "Hey, uh, you got everything you need?"

Minato nodded quickly and took a few steps back toward the door. "Yeah. I think so. I'll just be going then."

"Yeah."

"Um… Have a good weekend, Uribatake-san."

"You too." Minato quickly exited, leaning against the door leading in there for a moment. She then straightened up and headed toward the elevator at the end of the hall. She had to take the folders up to Gai and Itsuki so they could send them down to Accounting.

But that scene in the hangar stayed in her mind. Was he coming on to her? It was narcissistic of her to believe so, but the evidence was fairly convincing. Asking her if she was dating anyone, asking why not… No, that wasn't enough. He couldn't be doing that. He's with Hikaru, for God's sake!

But she did remember he once said that he was a bigger playboy that even Akatsuki. And Akatsuki had been pretty bad. He had come on to Minato when he first came on the ship. And if Uribatake was worse than Akatsuki, rest his soul… What was to say Uribatake wouldn't be a slime ball to Hikaru?

Minato frowned as the elevator in front of her opened and she stepped in, pushing the button for the top floor. It wasn't fair for her to assume so, but for the good of everyone, she was just going to avoid situations like that with him. Then she wouldn't have to worry about any more awkward moments or whether he was actually trying to be friends or if he was flirting. It was hard to tell with him, anyway.

---

"That was an interesting trick you tried there."

"What, you've never had someone do that before?"

"No, actually. Where'd you learn it?"

"Hey, the magician doesn't tell her secrets."

"Come on now. I want to know."

"If you must… Everyone gets their start in hentai."

"I thought so! So, which one were you in?"

"I know what you're going to do! You're going to take all your piles of loot and go buy hentai I starred in, aren't you?"

"Whoa, you were in so many that all my money will have to go to get the Mari collection? Dayum. I have a feeling I should be jealous, but for some reason I feel the urge for another round…"

"Yeah, you don't get one. Back to jerking for you."

"Aw." Mari grinned as she rested her head on Saburota's chest, squeezing her arms tighter around his shoulders. It was only about the second time they had fucked, but Mari had thought it was a good idea to put some of the lessons she had learned from when she was just starting out as a voice actress to good use. It made her glad to see that Saburota felt a little jealous as to her past lovers. She didn't learn her tricks from them, though.

They had barely had much time for each other in the past week, with reporters and such begging Saburota for the story on how he discovered that the serial killer Jumper was in fact a Martian. Which was odd, because it was the authorities themselves that let the story out, in order to appease the public. Saburota might have been the one that gave them the information, but he wasn't the one talking to reporters.

Mari rolled onto her side, shifting as she discovered her breasts were uncomfortably squished on both the bed and Saburota's arm. She dug her chin into his collarbone to get his attention. Once the Jupiterian was looking at her in the very dim light, Mari cocked her head to the side a bit. "I know I'm going to sound like a tabloid journalist, but how did you do it? You still haven't told me." Mari felt herself being sat up as he grasped her elbows and sat him himself, the covers pooling at their waists. He bent his knees and crossed his arms, resting them on top of his knees. He turned his head to see his girlfriend, his blonde-and-red hair sticking to his still sweaty back.

"I guess it all started when I realized how much money would be coming to me if I went on my own little independent investigation of this whole mess. Private contributors, corporate bigwigs, even a couple of government figureheads, they all wanted to know exactly who was causing all this chaos by murdering what looked like select people. Now, you know I hate information jobs, but with that much money on the line, even I was willing to put my own personal preferences aside and do this job.

"So I went up to Ninlan and looked into what evidence they had there. Other than the stuff everyone seems to know, all they had was a signature that pointed to Misumaru Yurika. But that's another part everyone knows. What everyone doesn't know is that they in fact, had two signatures. One of magic, and one of a Jump. The one of magic was specifically tied to Yurika. The Jump one, they weren't all that sure about. So I asked them how signatures worked, of course. I don't really get it myself, after all. What they said was that, with a Boson Jump, two things are left behind by the Jumper: their thoughts and a piece of their DNA. Their thoughts are present because they are imprinted into the surrounding retrospect particles, or something like that. Nobody, not even Earth or Jupiter, has something that can read those yet. It's a little hard to pinpoint them, and they aren't complete, so it's a lost cause to try to figure that out. Which leaves us with the DNA.

"Now, the DNA isn't exactly a perfect copy, otherwise we would have had the guy when he or she attacked Aqua Crimson. Earth would have just put it in the DNA Database they have and nab the guy within a couple of hours. But the whole thing isn't there. Only the part that is catered to Jumping. After all, it's DNA rewriting that allows someone to Boson Jump in the first place. But this is just Boson Jumping, not magic signatures. Those work different. I still don't get it, but that doesn't really matter.

"So, what I did was I came back to Earth and got an expert to come with me to the Crimson Estate to take recordings of the Jump DNA there and investigate them. What he found was that the Jumper was in fact, a Martian."

"But how?" interrupted Mari. "If all you have is the DNA rewritten for Boson Jumping, how can you tell what race they are or planet they're from? Surely that's not imprinted in there too, is it?"

"Actually, it is, yeah. See, because there are different types of people capable of Boson Jumping, there are different rewrites of the DNA, specifically as to what kind of Jumpers they are. Martians tend to have a more complete rewrite, so Jumps are easier for them. Jupiterians are less so, but much closer to Martians than anything else, mostly because we figured it out first. Ninlandish mages… less so, but still able to do it. The recent Jumpers made by Doctor Fressange's unlocking of the Jump Computer on Mars are the weakest, their rewrite still taking place as we speak. The DNA rewrite of the one in the Crimson Estate matched that of a Martian."

Saburota reached up to stretch his arms after completing his tale, cracking his neck in the process. Mari hugged her knees to her chest. It was all an interesting story, but it wasn't finished. They both knew that. And the end of the story hinged on one, single question. "But which Martian is it?"

Saburota shrugged. "I don't know. I just did what I was supposed to do, and collected quite the pile of gold for it. It's out of my hands now."

"But who would you speculate?"

"I don't know. Why, you have an idea as to who it is?"

"Personally? I think it's that Tenkawa kid. After all, he's met up with each of the victims so far. That, and he's the first Earth-allied Jumper. Of course he'd be good at Jumping in and out of places." Mari watched Saburota as he hissed and turned his head from side to side. "What, you don't think it's him?"

"Nah. Of any of the Martians, I'd say it was Misumaru. She was in close contact with each of the victims too, and Tenkawa didn't meet up with Mythos, but Misumaru did. Not only that, but her magical signature was found at each of the crime scenes."

"But I thought that they explained that?"

"Who knows. Either way, it's still pretty convenient that they have all this evidence against her, yet her stories she's giving keep checking out." Mari shook her head slowly, then let her knees drop, pulling the covers off her nude body. "Such unappetizing talk." She reached for the chair near her bed for her short, light blue robe and put it on, tying the waist rope. Saburota lay back down, crossing his arms behind his head as he watched Mari cover her body up, raising an eyebrow. "Appetizing?"

"Yeah. I think sex with you gives me the munchies or something, because I'm in the mood for breakfast."

"It's midnight , Mari."

"So? Do you want anything, while I'm at it?"

"You dipped in chocolate."

"Sabu…"

"Fine! Fine! Make it white chocolate." Mari just rolled her eyes and fisted her hands on her hips. "How's pancakes?"

"Sure. That sounds okay, I guess. I mean, it's not a sexy seiyuu covered in sugary candy, but I suppose it'll have to do."

"I'll be sure to put bugs in yours then." Mari quickly ran out of her bedroom before Saburota could throw the pillow he had just armed himself with. Saburota slowly replaced the pillow and lay down on his side.

Mari really was something else. It had only been a month or so since they had been going out, maybe closer to two months, but Saburota still hadn't decided that it was time for her to get out of his life yet. He wondered what that meant. Since the end of the war, this was the longest relationship he had been in with someone. And it was an Earth girl. He used to think that the only reason he couldn't commit to these Earth girls was because they were from a nation and a planet he used to believe were evil. But once he was on the Gardenia, he must have realized that Earth girls weren't all just sluts. That they could be intelligent and powerful, perhaps even more powerful than men, in Erina and Kaguya's case.

Jeez, for being a sexist, he certainly was letting Mari get to him. She could run with the big dogs when it came to wit, but what was the best part of it was that she wasn't a total tomboy like Ryoko. Mari still had that sweet, girl-next-door flavor that seemed to just enhance her adorability, along with her sarcasm and quick-shot at insults and retorts. She was able to still voice for a rather naïve magical girl anime, yet here she was, pulling sexual tricks that Saburota had only heard about in bars and saw in porn.

Speaking of sexual tricks, where the hell were his pancakes? Saburota got up out of bed and, not even bothering to find any of his clothes, headed in the direction of the kitchen. If he wasn't going to get pancakes, he wanted chocolate-dipped seiyuu. Stat.

---

TBC…

---

A/N: I think… this is one of the longest chapters yet. Seriously. Makes you think that waiting this long was worth it, huh? Well, I'm rather proud of this one… we touched on a lot of people, and next chapter will not be as long, I can assure you, but I doubt the wait will be as long either. Especially since I'd really like to get this fic done and out of the way so development of UB can happen. Anyway… plotty stuff… characterization stuff… and in case you were confused, yeah, this chapter took up two weeks. I don't know how long the next chapter will be, but I doubt it'll be two weeks. But hey, you'll never know. I'm getting to the turning point, after all. So, what did you think of this obscenely long chapter? Anything you liked? Anything you disliked? Anything you're hoping to happen? Or not? I beg of you to review of course, but if you don't, that's fine too, of course. Well, this is Tabby, signing out. Ciao!


	28. 061599 070699

A/N: Well, here it is. Next chapter. All I have to say… Well, please, please remember that this is labeled as R because of language and violence. Both are prevalent here. Actually, quite a lot. So I will ignore anyone freaking out or telling me that I'm sick, etcetera. I just think I need to say this before this specific chapter, because it's already going to piss a lot of people off. But just know that I have been planning this out since the very first concepts of LnDHnS. It was bound to happen. Anyway… just… keep your eyes open. This is going to be the beginning of the turning point after all. Okay, on a less cryptic note, this one will actually be about two weeks long again, maybe closer to three. But it probably won't be as long as the other one for sheer lack of events. So don't expect it to be as long or as chockfull. We need some downtime to do some smaller characterization before stuff happens. Anyway, since there isn't anything else for me to say, let's get this party started!

---

There was no way in hell that Inez could have missed the new home which was so obviously the property of Yurika and Jun. Inez had noticed, in looking up a map from the Jump Station to the house, that it was in a rather nasty part of Tokyo. So the fact that it was small was one tip she got. But all the other houses, with their fenced in front yards and driveways, were also of about the same size. So she had another big clue: the big semi truck parked in front. It had a label from a pretty popular chain furniture store, and Inez had to assume it was theirs. And although there wasn't a large slew of cars out in front like Inez had expected, it was actually the shouting that gave it away.

"Motherfucking MAGUS! Jiro, you dropped that table on my damn foot!"

"I'm sorry! I thought you had it!"

"That thing better not be scratched, or I'm not gonna stop hearing about it. And if I don't stop hearing about it, you don't stop hearing about it!"

Inez pulled her rental car to a stop and parked it behind one of two SUV's also parked in front. She could easily see Gai jumping down from the back of the truck to meet up with Itsuki, who was holding her foot and jumping up and down on the sidewalk. Jun and Akito were carrying a rather interesting, leopard-and-zebra-print chair into the house. In a moment, Ryoko and Izumi walked down the ramp out of the truck carrying another one.

Inez shook her head and stuck her hands in the pockets of her striped blue dress. "Looks like I'm a little late."

Ryoko snorted a laugh. "Looks like it. Glad you could show, Miss Fr–"

"Ah, ah, ah. It's Inez today. I don't think you all calling me 'Miss' anything will help us out." Izumi slowly set down her end of the chair and walked rather briskly to where Inez was standing. She tentatively wrapped her arms around Inez's neck, an affection Inez quickly reciprocated. But Inez felt Izumi's arm leave Inez's body almost the exact second the catcalls began. Pulling away Inez could see why; Izumi was answering their whistles and hoots with a well placed raised finger.

"Nice to see you again too, commented Inez, her painted lips curling up a bit. Izumi smiled back and cleared her throat. "You might want to go help Hikaru and Yurika inside. They're setting things up and putting crap away."

"I'll do that then." Inez made a quick beeline for the front door just as Akito and Jun were coming out to grab another piece of furniture. She passed by them quickly and entered the house.

Despite it being small, it was quite clean and had a lot of light, probably because the windows didn't have curtains yet. It was somewhat empty, but the kitchen appeared to be fully stocked with their appliances. The living room was getting there, with the chairs, couch, and table just left in the room, without position or purpose yet. The walls were absolutely bare, but Inez could see several nail holes from the previous owners. What she could see was where Yurika and Hikaru were. "Yurika?"

"We're in here!" called out a voice that was so obvious not Yurika's from down the hall leading out of the kitchen, living room, and dining room area. Inez followed it cautiously, yet quickly, to not be in anyone's way that was still bringing furniture off the truck. She soon saw Yurika in the farthest doorway at the end of the hall, breathing heavy and wiping her forehead.

Inez leaned against the door jamb and waved hello to Yurika. This was obviously what was to be Jun and Yurika's bedroom, and while the rest of the house was in shambles, their impressive bed was all put together and ready for anyone to sleep in it. Already, Hikaru lay on it, her bare arms tossed on the red covers haphazardly. Inez crossed her arms. There was nothing else put up in the room yet besides the massive bed, and there actually were boxes of stuff still stacked around. "You guys have been doing just the bed?"

"Gee, make it sound easy, why don't ya?" complained Hikaru weakly. "We put in the appliances, got them wired right, and put the damn bed together. I… am ready to pass out." She turned onto her side and closed her eyes, pulling her glasses off. Yurika frowned and sat down on the bed heavily, trying to bounce the redhead. "Oh, knock it off, Hikaru! You act like this is the only thing we have to do today!"

"It isn't?"

"No." Inez interrupted the two girls and readjusted her glasses. "Not by a long shot. From what I can tell, though, they have most of the living room furniture off the truck."

"Yay, more room to work!" cried Hikaru leaping off the bed. Inez was a little surprised by her sudden return of energy, but Yurika didn't bat an eye. "No more stuffy bedroom!"

"She certainly has a lot of enthusiasm."

"No she doesn't." Inez raised an eyebrow at Yurika's response. Yurika smiled softly at the doctor. "She's trying not to burst into tears. She's gonna miss us… all of them are. If not us… then most definitely Junny. They're so close, you know? Really close. I've tried my best to become one of them, but I don't think it worked." Yurika stopped and crossed her arms. "And just think it's nice that you're trying to, for Izumi's sake."

"I… I didn't know I was." Inez shook her head. "But I don't really think it matters."

"No." Yurika nodded as she walked into the main part of the house, where Hikaru was already humorously trying to figure out the best position for their news chairs, couch, and tables. "It probably doesn't."

Inez frowned. She was well aware of the fact that Hikaru, Izumi, Gai, Ryoko, Akito, Itsuki, and Jun were all very, very close. So close that, as Inez saw just then, an incoming Gai could slap Hikaru on the butt to get her out of the way, without any repercussions or feelings of dishonesty, as he and Itsuki pulled in a rather confusing looking bookshelf down the hall. Of course it was obvious that this companionship was long standing and probably would be for quite some time. But Inez had little idea that Yurika was jealous of their amiability. Of course, she was a late introduction to their household, going to live there only after she had broken up with Erina, but Inez thought it interesting that such a popular girl as Yurika would strive, and fail, to be part of that little group.

It was heartbreaking, in a way, how Yurika wanted to so be counted as "one of them", that she would even propose to one of their friends to do so. Was that the real reason she was marrying him? To be part of their group? No, Yurika couldn't be that self-centered. Inez was aware that Yurika was a bit more immature than most, just as Akito was as well, but this wasn't something Inez thought Yurika would try to use to become more likeable. And Yurika thought Inez wanted in on it? Fat chance. Inez was perfectly content dating Izumi. She didn't need the rest of them along with it to add to the insanity of her life.

"Why, oh why, Jun, did you not just get a bunch of guys to pull the crap off the truck?"

"Because that would cost more money, and we're already going to be living off Yurika's fortune until I get a job!"

"Aw, how cute, Junny wants to be the man of the house. Too bad he's the one wearing the skirt."

"I am not bi, Hikaru!"

"However denied it supplied it…"

"…What?"

"I don't know, it sounded good."

"You totally suck Ryoko."

"Hey, fuck you, Izumi!"

"I was under the impression that that was my obligation," interrupted Inez, not being able to help herself. She may not want to be part of the group, but a couple of shared laughs never hurt anyone. And shared laughs there were, along with a pat on the back from Ryoko herself, to whom Inez was retorting in the first place. "I like her. Izumi, when did you give her a sense of humor?"

"Probably when you were growing one of your own."

"Ooo, that bites right down to the heart!"

"Lame!"

"Shut up, Hikaru!"

"Hey, hey, hey! Less talkie, more workie! Hikaru, maybe we can position the couch to face that wall and the chairs on the sides, facing each other…"

---

Inez had left soon after they had all taken a break and eaten lunch, which was right after they had gotten the dining room table and chairs set up. But it was only three hours later that all the furniture bought was in place and many of the important details such as clothes also found homes. But as the sun was finding a reason to leave the sky, those that really did not want to leave suddenly had a very pressing matter to address: saying goodbye.

As Yurika had expected, the goodbyes they gave her weren't as tearful as she expected. Hikaru gave her the tightest hug of her life, while Ryoko made it very clear that this wasn't the end of them by hugging her as well and whispering in her ear, "You keep me updated. I refuse to be an Assist without absolute knowledge of the situation." Akito had elected to just shake her hand, while the others were full of good wishes and reassurance that her residence and company had been a pleasure. So Yurika got to see quite well how each of them gave their best wishes and begged Jun to not go.

Ryoko was the first to reach her brother, and, solemn as the dead, placed both of her hands on his shoulders, staring him in the eyes. Jun looked like he was going to tear up a little, and Ryoko slowly kissed his forehead. She didn't say anything, and neither did he, but she did place her hands on his cheeks and nod slowly, as if encouraging him while being comforting. Then she gave him a quick squeeze of a hug, one that Jun reciprocated with the same amount of swiftness.

Hikaru followed, and with almost no solemnity. She leapt upon him, wrapped her arms around him tightly and burying her face into his shoulder. She would have wrapped her legs around his waist, Yurika knew, if Yurika wasn't present. It wasn't a sexual thing for them. It was true comfort. Hikaru sobbed openly, which may have been the only thing that brought Jun over the edge. Hikaru let go of him so slowly, they could barely see that she had let go until she actually had, fully. She took his hand and placed it in the center of her chest, patting his hand there for good measure. "You'll be in here, forever." Jun nodded and hugged her again. "Don't have too much fun at home without me," he whispered hoarsely, his voice cracking a bit.

Itsuki rolled her eyes and smacked Hikaru upside the head, causing her to retract and cry out in pain, not to mention calling her a bitch. "Come on, it's not like he's going off and we'll never see him again! He's within driving distance, for Magus's sakes! But if you need anything, Junny, you tell us." Junny nodded quickly rubbing any tears off his cheeks and away from his eyes. "You're right. I will, I promise." Itsuki smiled and patted him on the head. "We'll miss you though… Call us everyday!"

"Yeah, because we all know Hikaru will actually be the only one home." Gai rolled his own eyes and earned a raspberry from his near-sister. He smiled though, giving Jun his own hug. "And when Itsuki means anything, we both mean anything. Money, sleeping area, food, you need it and we'll get it for you." Jun nodded slowly, almost falling from Gai's hug. "The guest house won't be anyone's ever again. It's not even a guest house anymore… it's Jun's house."

"Idiot, this is my house now." Jun smiled as Gai let him go and glanced around sadly. He nodded slowly. It was Jun and Yurika's home now, but Jun still referred to Yamada Manor as home. Yurika wondered how long she herself would do the same. She expected it to be much longer for Jun, though. Ever since they had been back on earth, he had slept, ate, and lived within Yamada Manor.

"Well, I suppose it is." Gai chuckled goofily, scratching the back of his head. He was quickly shoved out of the way by his boyfriend, who gathered Jun up in an encompassing hug that seemed to somehow beat Hikaru's. "You tell me whenever something happens. I want to know. I love you so much, Junny, and I don't want to lose my best friend."

"You won't. Flamma, Akito, you may see me more often!" Yurika nodded. "Right! I may end up dragging him to Peaceful Days once or twice."

"Once or twice? I'll come everyday while I'm out looking for a job." Akito smiled and ran his hands through Jun's chin-length hair. "You better promise."

"I promise. Everyday."

"Good." Akito slowly let Jun go, stepping out of the way for Izumi. Izumi just held his shoulders, and didn't hug him. She kissing his cheek however, and whispered something that even Yurika with her attentive ears could not hear. In response, Jun nodded, glancing at Yurika quickly, unnoticeable to everyone but Yurika's eyes, because they too were quite attentive.

They each grudgingly left the house, both Akito and Ryoko stopping at the door as Jun and Yurika followed them out. No words, but a nod of understanding from each of them was shared before both future Assists joined the rest of their circle in the two trucks parked out front. Both Jun and Yurika waved to them as the trucks came to life and drove out of sight.

Yurika tried not to be jealous. She really did. But the longing, lonely expression that stretched Jun's face was absolutely tragic, as if someone had just run over his puppy. Frowning, she wrapped her arms around Jun's shoulders and rested her head on his shoulder. It was wrong for her to be jealous. They knew Jun better than she, and she had known him longer. She had scorned him and dropped him her so many times, she even wondered why he was here with her. So she had no reason to feel bad for herself, just because her fiancé had some of the best friends of his life tell him that they loved him.

"Junny…" He stiffened at the name, but then relaxed more than he was prior. The name seemed to help him let go. "Itsuki was right. We'll see Akito and Izumi everyday, and probably the others just as often. It'll be okay."

"Yeah."

"I'm serious." Yurika looked him in the eyes before cocking her head to the side. "It's all going to be okay. We're… We're going to work out, and we'll still see them all the time. Living apart from them won't matter." But even Yurika had to wonder who she was kidding. Living apart from them would matter, especially in Jun's life. Ever since moving out from his mother's house, he had been surrounded by people, something that should have been traumatic or something for a shy person like him. But he had come to depend on it, Yurika could tell. Always having someone around to talk to. Now, half the time he would be alone at home until he could get a job. Yurika felt a bit sad for him.

"Junny… what did Izumi say?" Jun broke out of her awkward embrace and sat down on the leopard-and-zebra print couch they had picked out on a whim. He rested his elbows on his knees and threaded his fingers in his hair. Yurika sat next to him, resting a hand on his back softly before caressing it.

"She said… 'You will always be ours.'" Yurika's eyes narrowed at the statement. "What does that mean?"

"They're very protective. Of me, of each other. Izumi was just… reminding me that no matter what happens… I have a place with them."

Yurika had never felt such a desire to be in their gang than at that point. It wasn't because she wanted them to accept her, or anything like that. It wasn't even a popularity issue either. It all boiled down to their love; their love for each other that seemed to transcend common understanding of love. They were in love with specific people, but their own familial love, adoration, and devotion for each other, people who didn't even shared genetic ties, was something that Yurika never really felt with a group of friends. And Jun, who never had very many friends, had achieved it. She wasn't jealous of Jun's relationship with them… she was jealous of the relationship in general.

So jealous, that she would have done anything, at that moment, to be considered someone who could defend them to the death, even if they did not match her efforts.

---

"How's it goin', Itsuki?"

"Good God of Spirit, I haven't been in an Aesti in months. I feel my touch slipping…"

"Please don't say you're going to crash it, Itsuki."

"Hey, fuck you, Jiro!" Itsuki stuck her tongue out at the window open in her cockpit. As far as they knew, all tests had passed with this particular prototype initially. Ryoko had already told them that the feet were much, much better, and the arms, while still a bit heavier than usual, were workable. The only thing left to check was the missiles themselves before they made the complete prototype. That sort of thing was something they couldn't exactly trust Ryoko to do herself. This one didn't have all the bells and whistles of distortion fields and weaponry, and Ryoko wouldn't need any of that to destroy the targets without the missiles. Besides, they weren't sure in particular whether hers would work correctly in an atmosphere, so they chose one that would have to work in an atmosphere: Itsuki.

"Just remember, Kazamo, the blue ones are the ones without distortion fields. There are more of those at the start, just to check to see if the filling mechanism is working. The red ones towards the back have distortion fields protecting them."

"Okay, Chief, shut up! I know this field, we helped design it, remember?"

"Just don't bust it up too much," Uribatake grumbled, unlatching the large hangar doors with the push of a large red button. The doors opened vertically to empty air. After all, the hangar was above ground, several stories above, in fact. Itsuki smirked as she saw both the blue targets closer to her and the red ones several kilometers out. She saluted Uribatake's visage in the window to her left. "Ready when you are, Chief."

Uribatake looked to his own left, where Gai and Ryoko sat watching the gray Aestivalis, Gai stroking his chin and Ryoko sipping a soda. Gai nodded, giving Uribatake the go-ahead, who gave Itsuki a thumbs-up. "Steady as she goes."

"All right! This is how we do training up on the Moon, Jiro, Ryoko. Might want to watch!" Itsuki fired up the thrusters and let the robot take itself out of the hangar before gunning it, doing a figure eight around some of the blue targets. She stretched the right arm of her Aestivalis out as it hung upside down in the air. "Firing one!" Itsuki closed her eyes, the latches for the filling mechanism opening. She blinked at the words that flashed brightly in another communication window. Uribatake had really gone all out with this one, despite it just being a prototype. Here it was, telling her her progress when she hadn't done anything yet. Itsuki bit her lip and she focused all her energies on the various melodies playing in her head. She did have several going at once, but she didn't care as long as they broke the sound barrier.

"Ready for launch!" squeaked the window before closing. Itsuki glared at the blue target within her sights. "Target locked," she whispered, readying herself for the launch. Once she was braced for a sudden toss that would usually come from a heavy-duty missile being launched, she let it go, reveling in the lack of kick the ejection had. Well, it was a pretty small missile, now that she could see it.

It hit the blue target, exploding on impact. Itsuki let her jaw fall slack and her eyebrows meet as the smoke dissipated. "Jiro, do you see this?"

Gai's face appeared, and his incredulous expression matched hers. "Yeah." He could see better than her, and gave her an extra window that showed his view. The target was still whole, bouncing back and forth from the force that was put on it. Itsuki took her hands off the controls and crossed her arms. "Well, that totally sucks."

"It's gotta be the missile design," concluded Ryoko. "You hit it dead on, and it really should have blown it up. I heard ever piece of it, and I wanted to go deaf."

"Gee, thanks. I am so happy for your professional opinion." Itsuki winked at Ryoko's window to show she was just kidding. "Anything we can do about the missiles, Chief?"

Uribatake traced his lips with a finger. "Well, I think what the problem here is the fact that we just sort of assumed that everything we'd want to hit would have a distortion field."

"So why didn't we have a system set up in case they didn't?"

"Because we also assumed that if it could go through a distortion field, it could knock out anything without one."

"Well, obviously not!"

"All right, so we screwed up! We'll make something to go between the two layers so that when it hits something, then it'll open up, and if it hits something without a distortion field, it'll still pack a punch!"

"Actually… wouldn't that work better?" interrupted Ryoko, thoughtful. "If we wait until it hits the target to let out whatever's inside, wouldn't whatever's inside have a better chance of hitting the target? It's usually just an environment thing anyway, right?"

"Yeah, it is," said Gai, scratching his cheek. "Could we do that, Uribatake?"

"Well, sure. We'd need to redesign the missile launcher to be a bit longer to make up for the bigger size, but it shouldn't be a problem."

"All right, guys, I'm going to go after one of the distortioned ones!" Itsuki positioned her Aestivalis so that she could see one of the far red targets easily. She closed her eyes and the filling mechanism opened once again. "Firing two!" She quickly filled it with the hardest sound she could ever imagine, bones cracking, nails squealing, metal twisting, all of it. The missile quickly filled and she fired it.

This time they had to wait for Itsuki's word on the target's condition, because they weren't even in earshot of Itsuki's painful noise. Itsuki smirked as the smoke dissipated. "Congratulations, Chief. You're little distortion field destroyer on this things work perfect! Hit and sinker!" Back in the hangar, they all cheered and clapped, with Ryoko letting out a few howls of her own. Gai laughed. "All right, that's all we need then. Bring her back home, Itsuki."

"Roger that." Gai looked at Uribatake. "So all we need to really do now is get it to work against unprotected targets."

"And make sure that it works with the distortion fields on, and test to see how fast we can get them out, and start making catered ones for the different focuses in combat…"

"You worry too much, Uribatake. There's no rush. It's not like there's going to be any fighting anytime soon." Ryoko drained her soda can just as Itsuki landed her Aestivalis in the hangar. "Hey, you loser, you fly like a newbie. What's the matter?"

"Out of practice. But I'm sure you don't know what that means, do you?"

"Never. I need to head back to my office before someone comes into the building armed with poison baby food."

---

Yukina grumbled as she kicked her legs in the chairs she was sitting in. She had been sitting there for almost an hours, and they were getting sore from falling asleep. She jumped up and shook her fists, stomping her feet at Minato, who was still sitting in the seat next to hers, concentrating on the crossword puzzle in her hands. "Magus, Minato, would it have HONESTLY killed your brother to take a freaking Jump Shuttle from Beppu City to here? At least those are relatively on time!"

"I'm bored too, Yukina. But this is how he decided to get here, so we'll just have to wait until his plane arrives." Yukina sat back down and propped her head up with her elbows on her knees. Minato's logic made sense, but she didn't have to like it. Besides, Yukina didn't really want to think about why Toju hadn't taken a Jump Shuttle. Most people that had little to no opinion about Jumpers had welcomed the quick transportation method with open arms. It was fast, had little repercussions if done right, and could take you just about anywhere for the exact same price. Because people tended to prefer it, save for those anti-Jumper bastards, Yukina felt extremely uncomfortable being in a place that was only still running because anti-Jumpers used it. She readjusted her white gloves so that her hands were firmly inside them before hooking a sandaled foot on the chair so she could hug her knee.

Because of this knowledge, that usually only anti-Jumpers used airports now, Yukina had opted to break out her gloves again. Right when she was getting used to not having them too. But Yukina couldn't help that, even if no one approached her while they were waiting, she had the distinct feeling that they were still a good idea, just in case Toju chose to take an airplane simply because he was, in fact, an anti-Jumper. Yukina hoped he wasn't. Yukina didn't ever meet her grandparents, and she was sure her parents were both only children. So Minato was the only family she had left now, and she wanted to accept Minato's family as her own.

"Flight Seven-Four-Six now arriving at Gate Nine. I repeat, Flight Seven-Four-Six from Beppu City now arriving at Gate Nine." Minato folded up her newspaper and stuck it and her pencil in her purse, slinging it over her shoulder. "That's ours, Yukina."

"Finally!" cried Yukina, leaping out of her seat and scratching her neck where her short braid tickled her skin. She stood next to Minato, glancing at her sister-in-law. Minato sure looked tense. Well, Yukina was too. Minato hadn't seen him in three years, but Yukina had never met the guy. She nervously wondered what he would be like. Would he be a fun guy? He had to be if he was trying to be a game designer, right? But computer geeks could be a little crazy, like Uribatake and Hikaru. But they were the funny kind of crazy. Amusing. Good entertainment. Would this guy be good entertainment? What were his hobbies? Would he look like Minato? Would he be tall? Short? Muscular? Skinny? A bit on the chubby side? Yukina bit her lip and worried it in her teeth. She should really, really stop worrying, because she was starting to get the shakes.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Minato's shoulders fall as she make an emission that sounded like partially a sigh and partially a gasp. Yukina looked to her, then to where she was looking quickly. There stood a man that was most obviously Toju, the way Minato was looking at him. Either that, or there would be some talk in the car on the way home. His hair was cut very close to his head, almost military style, but still long enough for Yukina to realize that it was in the exact same brown as Minato's own tresses. His face was rather long, and his chin a bit pointy, something that set him and Minato apart, obviously. His pointed chin was covered with the beginnings of a small goatee, but the rest of his face was nicely shaven. His eyes were much smaller than Minato's, yet still the same color of brown, Yukina could tell, as he walked closer to where she and Minato stood. His lips pouted out a bit more for a man than Yukina expected. She decided he had Jun lips.

He was of Minato's complexion, maybe just a shade lighter, and while he wasn't skinny, he wasn't built either. Just toned enough to say he exercised, but it wasn't about to become a body-builder, or go crazy with it. Yukina had to raise her eyebrows at how he was dressed though. She was no fashion critic, but his metallic-print shirt was something she really didn't like. But he wore blue jeans and carried a red backpack on his back, something that reminded Yukina that yes, Toju was in fact a normal guy that just paid more attention to his face. Metrosexual, in a way.

Toju and Minato embraced tightly, with Minato groaning that she missed him. She held him out by his shoulders. "Let me get a look at you." She glanced over his appearance quickly, which really made Yukina wonder what it was for. She could tell what the guy looked like from that far away. Closer wasn't helping, and Minato probably didn't see as many details as she did. Minato kissed his cheek nonetheless and hugged him again, rocking them both back and forth. Yukina had to smile at the spectacle. "Just like I remember you. Still having trouble with girls, there, Toju?"

"No, actually, I have a girlfriend back in Beppu now… Akita Masae. Really beautiful, I say, but pretty weird sometimes." Toju's eyes fell upon Yukina and he jolted back, shocked to see someone with Minato. He stared at her as Minato looked over her shoulder at her. "Apparently we have a few stories to trade about these past three years."

Minato let go of Toju and stepped back, holding a hand at Yukina's back. "I think some introductions are in order. Yukina, this is my little brother, Haruka Toju." Toju gave her a rather dorky hand salute that Yukina was sure she had seen the pilots do at least once in regards to each other and Uribatake while on the Nadesico. Minato smiled brightly as she faced her brother. "Toju, this is Shiratori Yukina," Yukina held out her right gloved hand and shook hands with Toju, "our sister-in-law." Yukina smiled smugly as his jaw promptly fell away from his face.

"Sister-in-law?!" Minato nodded and held up her left hand, where she still wore Tsukumo's ring he had offered her on his deathbed. Yukina relished the fact that Minato had not said that she wasn't married. But she supposed this would end up as part of the story she would tell him about her big brother. Toju struggled to make some sense of the situation. "Wait… you got married and you never told me?"

"She's not married," interrupted Yukina. Even if it did make her feel good to think of Minato as married to her brother, may he rest in peace, it wasn't true, and Yukina wanted to give him the facts. He at least deserved that. "It's a long story though."

"How long can it be?"

"Long enough to be put off until we get home. You might want to be sitting down for this one." Yukina saw Minato's motive immediately. "Shouldn't we go check the rest of your bags?"

"Yeah we should." It wasn't that hard. The story of Tsukumo's death and Minato winning custody of Yukina was a good way to probe someone's standing on both Jumpers and Jupiterians. It was quick and easy, but not the very first thing you wanted to tell someone when you first met them, particularly when they were family. And Yukina had no family but Minato now. Yukina wanted the rest of Minato's family to like her.

Yukina was silent on the car ride home, particularly because she was too busy listening to Minato tell him the story of how she got on the Nadesico and all that had happened there prior to that fateful January in 2198 when the crew had discovered that the "Jovian Lizards" were in fact human. Yukina had heard this tale from various sources during her own time on the Nadesico, including Minato's version. It was long enough, and detailed enough that Minato had just pulled into their driveway as she was getting to the part where Omoikane was being quite the bad computer. But then they had to drag Toju's luggage, one of which, in fact, held HIS computer, into the house. But it was only then that Minato made her brother sit down on their couch before he began to unpack his stuff and put it in the room they had set off for him.

Yukina sat down herself, threading her fingers within themselves. Minato, actually, sat down on a dining room chair she dragged into their living room. She took a deep breath and began. "So, sometime after that, I met Yukina's brother, Tsukumo."

Yukina's eyebrows shot together. There was no "sometime after that" to it. Tsukumo and Genichiro attacked Kawasaki on Christmas Eve, Genichiro Jumped to the moon two weeks prior, and Tsukumo infiltrated the Nadesico. He took Minato and Megumi hostage, and that's when everyone learned that the Lizards weren't lizards at all. There's was this big, huge get go involved! And Minato left it all out and called it just meeting Tsukumo.

Toju nodded, scratching his chin. "And then you fell for him." Minato nodded slowly. "Yes. I did. But there was still the war, and he was a soldier." Yukina held on to the end of Minato's statement and waited for her to say, "…on the other side." But it never came. Yukina looked at Minato as if she had lost her mind. If she didn't get it out soon, the story was about to hit some bumpy parts where her heritage was going to be a major factor.

"But he did wish for peace, and had a nearly flawless plan for peace. We were all ready for it. But… during the negotiations with Jupiter, their terms were for nothing less than surrender. Tsukumo objected and… he was assassinated." Minato looked away, frowning. Yukina clenched her teeth in anger. How DARE Minato not tell the whole story! Was she ashamed of Yukina and Tsukumo's place of birth? Ashamed that they were on the other side of the war she herself had fought in?

"That's horrible," commented Toju, looking truly sympathetic. Yukina wrinkled her nose in disgust and crossed her arms. He didn't know her brother. He didn't know why he was killed. Only because Minato refused to tell the whole story. Minato nodded. "He was assassinated by Jupiter because they didn't want peace. Then they blamed Earth for it to make Earth look even more horrible to its people. He…" Minato looked at the simple diamond ring on her finger. "He proposed to me on his deathbed. I accepted… and I gained custody of Yukina."

"And that's all she wrote," interrupted Yukina, getting up off the couch, still feeling extremely pissed off at Minato. Minato just looked at her though, and Yukina could see in her sister-in-law's pleading expression that Minato did what she had to do. Minato had every intention of telling the complete version, but… it was a better choice for her to tell the edited version that said nothing about what side of the war they were on, where they had been born, any of that.

But that didn't mean Yukina had to like it.

Minato nodded quickly to her brother, standing up. "Right. That's the gist of it." She smiled reassuringly at Yukina, who still frowned, her anger clearly in her head. Toju got up too, and wrapped an arm around Yukina's shoulders. "Well, while it was tragic, I'm glad you've made yourself part of our family, Yukina." He messed up the hair on the top of her head, and her anger quickly dissipated. Minato's reassuring smiled turned into an ecstatic grin.

"Well, now that you know all there is to know… you need any help unpacking your stuff?"

"Nah, not really. On the other hand… I'm starving! You know that they only gave us peanuts and soda on the plane? God, I swear that they really just want everyone in the world to be anorexic! He squeezed Yukina's shoulders. "Besides, I want to get to know Yukina a little better. She knows where I'll be sleeping, right?"

"Yeah, I do." Minato nodded. "I'll make us some sandwiches then. Yukina, I…"

"Gotcha. Don't worry about it. Come on Toju." Yukina grabbed the rolling suitcase that she thought weighed twice herself and dragged it helplessly down the hall, Toju followed with his backpack and two other huge bags. Yukina stopped at the door leading into their study and opened it. She went in to the center of the room before setting his big suitcase up and holding her arms out. "This is our study, and you'll be in here." She walked over to the gray couch. "There's a pull-out bed in here, and there's extra pillows in the closet if you need them." Toju nodded and put one of his big duffel bags on the floor while tossing the other one onto the couch. He then let his backpack drop before he knelt down to open the really heavy suitcase, unzipping it slowly. Yukina narrowed her eyes. "What's in there, anyway? I think it weighs more than the whole freaking Nadesico."

Toju opened it up to show a bunch of piece of electronic hardware, including a pretty big monitor. "My computer and my laptop, that's what. Had to tear them apart so I could get on the plane. Stupid airplanes. You know where I can set up my baby?" Yukina bit her lip. The desk in there already had the computer Minato and she shared. She really didn't want to unhook it. She scratched her itchy neck, and Toju waved a hand. "It's okay. "That one was there first. I'll just set it up on the floor."

"Oh, come on, that's rude of me to ask you to do…"

"Hey, it ain't the first time. Freshman year of college, my roommate was a total asshole. Took up the only desk we had for himself. Had my whole system set up on the floor. Year after that, I had it all set up on top of my drawers. I think I'd feel a bit weird if it was at a desk anyway." Toju freed his monitor, setting it on the couch. As he pulled out his box, he looked up at Yukina with his small eyes. "Hey, you wanna help me?"

Yukina shrugged. "Sure. I don't know much about computers, but I suppose I could…"

"Don't know much about computers? I thought computer classes were required in high school?"

"Yeah, but I'm going to do it in a couple of years. Only get one elective this year and next, so I'm doing Choir. Don't really need to know much about computers anyway… My best friend's sister's one of the biggest hackers in the world, and Minato's co-worker builds his own robots for fun." Toju's eyes widened. "Wow… Sounds like there really was more to that whole Nadesico story than I thought."

"Yeah, really. Like… I don't even think she told you about their little beauty pageant they had on there."

"Maybe you should tell me what you know. Hey, can you get that motherboard for me? It's the really big card-thing. You can't miss it." Yukina noticed it right away. Just as she was about to grasp it to pull it out of the suitcase, Toju grabbed her wrist. "Whoa there. You wanna fry my stuff?"

"Huh?"

"Your gloves, girlie. They gotta go." Yukina looked at her hands. Yeah, her white gloves were still on. She had forgotten that she was even wearing any. She guessed that she wasn't so not used to them as she thought. Biting her lip, she pulled them off quickly and grasped his computer's motherboard, pulling it out and handing it to him.

"Thank you very much, ma'am. Why do you wear gloves anyway? It's the freaking middle of June." Yukina bit her lip harder, feeling her blood rush up to the surface of the skin there. Minato had avoided it so well, even if it did piss Yukina off, and now here was Yukina at the point where she could lie and lose his trust, or tell the truth and risk him hating her. But she didn't have to tell him the whole truth… did she?

She threaded her fingers together as he worked, waiting for an answer. "Well… I'm a Jumper," she spit out quickly, lowering her head and wishing she left her hair down today so it could hide some of her face. Toju raised an eyebrow, yet continued his work. "Really."

"Yeah. Got the controller and everything." Yukina looked at the back of her right hand, at her silver design, watching Toju's activity slow as she knew his eyes were on it. He hadn't believed her at first, but there was no denying it now. He sighed deeply. "What are you, fourteen? What did you have to get nanomachine treatment for? You're certainly not a robot pilot." He set his screwdriver down and sighed again. "Look, I think you're probably a good person, Yukina. I like you well enough, but… Just know that I don't totally agree with your choice to become a Jumper. No hard feelings, all right?"

But as Yukina clenched both her fists and her teeth, it was obvious that it was not all right, and that there were some hard feelings present. She stood up and fisted her hands on her hips. "What do you know, huh? There are kids a lot younger than me that got nanomachine treatment! Of course, it was a different kind of nanomachine, but that's not the point! The point is that you're making assumptions and you don't even know! It's not like I had a choice anyway… I was born this way, for your information! Do you think I actually LIKE being hated, ridiculed, and shunned because of this thing? Do you think I chose to be born on Jupiter?!" Yukina covered her mouth the second the word flew out of her mouth. She hadn't wanted to say it. She had been holding on to it as long as she could, but it just came out.

Toju looked at her as if two different things had happened. One of which, that she just proclaimed herself king of the cheese. The other, probably as if she had just let her bowels loose in her pants. Both disgusted and confused screamed his expression, with his eyebrows making love and his jaw kicked off the face, his upper lip twisted upward into a shocked sneer. He closed his mouth and shook his head quickly, violently grabbed other pieces of his computer. "Get out of here. I don't want to speak to you anymore. You should go back to your precious planet. Dirty Jovian."

Yukina felt her eyes well up as she ran from the room, down the hall, and into the living room where Minato had just set down three plates of sandwiches, each with a side of crackers. Her face lit up at the sight of Yukina, but she quickly frowned as she saw exactly how upset Yukina was. It appeared to only take Minato three seconds to put two and two together, and she fell to her knees in front of Yukina, holding her shoulders.

"Yukina, I'm so sorry. Please, just don't believe anything he says. At all. Please, I love you, Yukina, and if Toju can't understand that just because you're from Jupiter that you are a person too…"

"Minato, he told me to go back to Jupiter! You want me to disregard that? I want you to kick him out!"

"Yukina, you know I can't do that…"

"Why not?"

"Because he's family, and we have an obligation to make family feel comfortable in our company…"

"No, Minato!"

"Yukina, you're not going to go back to Jupiter. I'll talk to Toju, I'll try to make him understand!"

"Minato, you were so worried about people teasing me and hating me at school for something I couldn't help, and you're going to let this close-minded bigot stay in our house? He called me a dirty Jovian, Minato! What about your obligation to give me a safe home?" Yukina gasped at her own words, and Minato's face darkened. Yukina narrowed her eyes at Minato, not longer yelling, but cruelly whispering. "You never cared for me, did you? You never did! You just felt like you were SUPPOSED to bring me to Earth and take care of me? You never wanted to, did you?" As Minato opened her mouth to retort, Yukina broke out of Minato's grasp. "No, not anymore. You can feel as obligated as you want to take care of Toju, but not of me! I won't be your obligation!" With that Yukina left their house, running down the street.

Minato ran to the door, but stopped before crossing the barrier. She frowned. She really had done Yukina wrong. She should have made sure Toju would be okay with Yukina before letting him stay. He may have been family, but he was an adult, and Yukina was a child. Minato had to think of Yukina first, but she hadn't. So why wasn't she running after her now?

Yukina ran until she couldn't run anymore, which was pretty far, especially since she had been practicing to make it on the track team for next year. Panting, Yukina realized that she was in the general neighborhood of Peaceful Days. Yeah, her days weren't going to be so peaceful anymore, not with Minato's brother there to take precedence over her. Anger boiling up in her again, Yukina spotted the Nadesico-crew-run restaurant and coffee house and headed straight for it. At least that was one place where she was welcome.

Once inside, she sat right down at a booth far from the window, closer to the small stage and coffee shop part of the restaurant. She felt eyes on her, but she ignored them. Instead, she opened up a menu and looked at what they actually served at this place. She had no money on her, she just remembered, so paying would probably be a problem. She bit her lip and considered leaving just as she heard a friendly, girlish voice, causing her to look up. "Hey, there, Yukina. Haven't seen you around here much. Can I get you a drink or something?" Yukina raised her eyebrows at Eri, who cocked her head to the side with a smile. Yukina sighed dejectedly. "I would, but… I don't want to rob you guys out of a drink… I forgot to bring money."

Eri blinked for a second, then glanced over her shoulder to where Akito was taking the money from someone at the ordering counter. She looked back to Yukina. "Don't worry," she whispered. "It's on me. You want a soda, right?"

Yukina, taken aback by this gesture, blinked a couple of times. Eri tapped her pen on her notepad, and Yukina decided it was probably a good idea to just go along with it. "Uh, yeah, sure. Mars Cola."

"All righty. I'll be right back, then." Eri went to the cash register and whispered something in Akito's ear, handing him something out of her jeans pocket. Yukina expected this to be some of her own money, and her opinion of Eri skyrocketed with this gesture. She then headed to the back, where Yukina couldn't see her anymore. She bit her lip as Akito obviously tried to not look at her, uncomfortable. She knew he was trying to make her feel like a regular customer, when she wasn't. Here she was stealing money right out of Eri's pocket.

Eri quickly returned and placed the glass of carbonated liquid down on a napkin in front of Yukina, then placing a straw in it. Eri smiled at Yukina, and Yukina pointed at the drink. "How much is it? I can at least pay you back later…" Eri put her hands on her hips. "I said it was on me, and it's on me!" But Eri actually sat down across from the Jupiterian girl, flipping her side ponytail over her shoulder. "But you can tell me how come you're here, if you're so worried about paying me back."

"What's to say there's a reason I'm here?" retorted Yukina quickly, her face flushing at the embarrassment of being found out. She crossed her arms and looked away, towards the wall, with her nose in the air. "I was just in the neighborhood is all, so I figured I'd stop in!"

"But you forgot your money?" Damn. Caught fair and square. Yukina let the indignant act go, slouching a bit. Eri cocked her head. "So what's the real reason you're here?"

"To cool off, I guess." Yukina took the rest of the paper off her straw and sipped her drink. "I was in the neighborhood, I just… I left home."

"You ran away? But Akito told me about when Ruri ran away and showed up on their doorstep, and he said she had luggage with her. Where's yours?"

"I didn't run away!" Yukina bit her lip. "Okay… I ran away. But not the kind of running away you're thinking of. I just… I needed to get away from home for a little while, you know? Away from Minato and that slimy asshole her brother is."

"Minato has a brother?"

"Yeah. And he's a complete jerk-off. Called me a dirty Jovian and everything! And Minato's letting him stay with us over the summer… Magus, I hate him already and I've only been around him for, what, two hours, tops?"

"Well, that's horrible! Did you tell her?"

"Yeah, and she freaking…" Yukina fell silent and crossed her arms, resting them on the table. "Eri, I think… I think I messed up." Yukina quickly looked away, her face reddening as she remembered the horrible things she said to Minato. "I told her that she felt obligated to take care of me. That… That she didn't care about me. I told her she wouldn't have to worry about me being an obligation anymore."

Eri shook her head slowly, frowning. That small gesture made Yukina bite her lip for the thousandth time that day, regretting every single thing she said to Minato in regards to Toju. She had really done it this time. She proved every aspect of the ugly name Toju called her. She really was a dirty Jovian, wasn't she? Yukina tightened her teeth's grip on her lip as she felt tears flood her vision. That gesture, that expression, in Yukina's blurred vision, was not that of one of the cooks on the Nadesico, but actually looked like that of her brother. Tsukumo was ashamed of her. And she had no one to blame but herself. "Eri," she whispered, "what am I gonna do? I was so mean to her… I want to tell her how sorry I am. I love her. I… I don't want her to leave me alone anymore. She's all I have now." Her vision cleared as the first tears escaped her eyes and trailed down her cheeks. Yukina covered her face and sobbed. "What am I gonna do, Eri?" she cried, feeling a hand turning her in her seat to face away from the table. Then arms around her, squeezing tightly. Yukina returned the hug, burying her face in Eri's shoulder and threading her fingers in the long hair that flowed down her back. Wait a minute.

Yukina pulled away quickly upon realizing that it wasn't Eri she was embracing. Instead, it was Minato herself, tears in her own eyes. Yukina hugged her again, even tighter. "Oh Magus, Minato, I am so sorry. That was so wrong of me…" Minato squeezed back just as hard, rubbing her back. "I know. I'm sorry too. I should have made it clear to Toju instead of easing him into the idea… I would never, ever leave you, Yukina, and only because that's what I want, not what's expected of me. You know that?" Yukina nodded quickly.

They both sat like that for several minutes, in hysterics. Once they both calmed themselves, Minato stood up, no longer kneeling, but kept holding Yukina's hands, swinging them back and forth. Yukina smiled. "So how did you know I was here?"

"I called them ahead of time and asked if you were there. How Mei said you hadn't arrived, but she would call me if you did. It must have been only ten minutes later, and I'm calling everywhere… Uribatake's house, Mugendai Headquarters, Ayame's house, everywhere I thought you might end up, when I get a call from How Mei saying you were right there. So I drove over here as fast as I could."

Yukina looked over Minato's shoulder to see Eri behind the counter, who waved. That little sneak must have told How Mei when she went to go get her drink. Yukina smiled at her nonetheless. She leapt up out of the booth. "Well then, we should head on out."

"You know he's still there, right?"

"Yeah." Yukina brushed it away with a hand. "No big deal. He stays out of my way, I'll stay out of his. As long as he keeps his mouth to himself, I wouldn't feel any urges to set a tornado after him.."

"I was under the impression that you were empty."

"Nope, still got a teeny little bit of Amano-san's." She grinned. Minato shook her head and waved to How Mei before taking Yukina's hand and leading her out of the restaurant. "Give him a good reason to fear Jumpers, is that what you want?"

"Only if he acts like an ass."

"I suppose that's agreeable."

"Hey, you didn't yell at me for swearing!"

"Well, it's true. He did act like an ass."

"…You're going to talk to him, right?"

"Absolutely."

---

Uribatake was actually fairly done positioning up the majority of his furniture before he actually heard a quick repetition of knocks on the door. He wiped the sweat off his brow before going to the door and opening it haphazardly, rolling his eyes as he saw who stood there. "Nice of you to show, since the truck showed two freakin' hours ago…"

"Oh come on, you know you love me." Hikaru stuck her tongue out and her head into Uribatake's home, looking about. "Shit man, you got done already? I was under the impression that I was still going to be needed."

"Thus the outfit, right?"

Hikaru nodded quickly. It was much, much skimpier than the shirts and shorts she usually wore, a pale yellow tank top and miniskirt, but she grinned despite. "I've gotten the art of wearing things for the local pervert down pat."

"Ah, but I was under the impression that Yamada was gay." Hikaru giggled. "You are such an asshole. So, are you like, gonna let me in or what?"

"Not if you're calling me an asshole." But Uribatake stepped out of the way so Hikaru could enter and switch her shoes out. He then went back into the dining area and finished pushing the chair into position. Once he was happy with their location and direction, he went back into the living room, where Hikaru was still standing around and looking at what appeared to be everything. Not just the new furniture or the old that stayed around, but also the walls, little knick-knacks he got to keep, some of the picture frames on top of his TV. He raised his eyebrows and pushed his glasses up a bit. "Is my home really that interesting to look at like you have ADD?"

Hikaru literally jumped, jarred out of her thoughts, she looked behind her and scratched the back of her head. "Oh, no, it's just… Well, I've never actually seen where you live. I mean, you've seen Yamada Manor a million times…" Hikaru looked away, obviously a tiny bit embarrassed. Uribatake shrugged, not seeing the big deal. "It's not like it's the greatest place in the world or anything." He stretched his arms up, then out straight ahead. "You wanna watch TV or something? No use in you heading back home so quick."

"Yeah, especially since we see each other so little."

"What's up with that, anyway? I see just about everyone else that lives in your house all the time."

"I guess I'm just a homebody." Uribatake instantly regretted his question. He sat down on his now red couch and patted the seat next to his, reaching for the remote. He had expected Hikaru to sit down slowly, especially as she sounded a little bit down herself all of a suddenly, but instead, she jumped and landed on her shins on the cushions. Uribatake frowned. He knew what was going on. "Hikaru… I'd really like it if you were a bit more honest with me."

"What are you talking about?" She cocked her head to the side innocently. Uribatake just sighed and shook his head. They both knew EXACTLY what he was talking about. But he just elected to go along with her little lie, if only for a little while. Turning on the TV, he flipped for several channels before he shook his head and asked her. "Got a preference?"

Hikaru nodded and took the remote from him, turning it off. "On top of not seeing each other, we don't get to talk much. I don't know anything special." Hikaru laid her head on his shoulder, wrapped her arms around herself. "Tell me something they don't know."

Uribatake pursed his lips in concentration. "Well, my mom used to be a science teacher. She was the one that got me interested in machines, not the war. She showed me how household things worked, and I just went on from there."

Hikaru nodded her head slowly, her eyes closing as she reached up and pulled her glasses off. Uribatake lifted his arm and wrapped it around her shoulder, caressing her side lovingly. He really felt like Hikaru was exactly what he wanted in that moment. All uncertainties melted away as she snuggled up closer to him, as if she intended to use him as a big pillow. But her hands folded and unfolded her glasses nervously until he took them from her. She opened her eyes and tilted her head so she could see him.

"…I'm worried about messing this up." She sat up staring at her hands in her lap. "That's why we don't see each other often. I tend to… mess up my relationships. I'm always looking for someone to be with, that when I find one, I kind of…" Hikaru slowly fisted her hands, dragging her nails along her thighs so they made pink lines on her flesh, "…sink my claws in, so to speak. Get dependent. Try to be with them a lot. I… I don't want to push you away, so…"

"You do by doing so." Hikaru looked away, her face growing red. Uribatake shook his head and pushed some of her hair behind her shoulder so he could see her despite this. "I don't mind. I honestly do not care if you become close to me. Even in this short time we've actually been together like this, I think I'm pretty close to you."

What the fuck was he doing?! He wasn't even sure of what he felt for this girl, yet here he was, talking as if he knew since day one. He isn't like this. Uribatake Seiya did not fall in love, and certainly not with girls ten years younger than he was. Sure, she was attractive in the way that had he didn't think was attractive in the first place, and she shared his hobbies which was always a plus for a captivating girl… Wait! Hikaru wasn't captivating! She was just the average girl, nothing special. But somewhere in Uribatake's head, something argued that statement. She may have been average, but she was definitely something a little more than that.

"I don't want you to lie to me. I want you to feel open to me. I want you to trust me. I mean… I… I trust you and all, and I don't feel any reason to lie to you. I just…" Dammit, now he had no clue as to what he was supposed to be saying! He scratched the back of his head to buy himself some time. Where had that little voice of logic gone in his head?

Hikaru narrowed her eyes at him. After swallowing, she shook her head. "So what are you trying to say? That…" She seemed to be having as much trouble saying it as he. It wasn't something people who had been really good friends before their relationship said. It wasn't something that people who had only been together for about three weeks said. But it was something they both were suddenly thinking of.

"I… I don't know! Maybe!" Uribatake watched Hikaru's eyes widen before he himself looked away. "I mean… I think so. I'm not entirely sure. This sort of thing just doesn't happen, you know!"

"It doesn't." She was surprisingly calm for such an admission. Glancing out of the corner of his eye, he saw her smile, but just barely. "It doesn't happen. But… You just admitted it. Didn't ya?"

"Yeah… Yeah, I guess so."

"So I guess it does happen, sometimes." Hikaru grinned. Uribatake snorted. "You can be such a dork."

"Hey, you're the sappy one."

"No, you started it!"

"Pfft, whatever." Uribatake shook his head and grasped her chin, kissing her. It started just like any of their other kisses, barely there, just touching, nothing behind it. But he let himself actually take it a bit deeper, with his girlfriend more than willing. And so they made out on his new couch, hands caressing over clothing and hair, yet not leaving any feeling of loss when they had actually stopped.

Why had Uribatake even bothered to deny that he was head over heels for the redhead in his arms?

---

Pale eyelids flew up to reveal crimson eyes frantic as the body they provided sight for sat up abruptly in bed. Breathing heavy, Izumi had the blankets and sheets off her body and her feet into her slippers before she realized that her train of thought that had interrupted her dream of superheroes and vampires was without base. She had that day off. There was no reason to go flying to Peaceful Days today, as they didn't even expect her there. Still, with it being nearly noon by a glance at the alarm clock on the nightstand to her left, there was no reason to stay abed. Izumi stood, stretched, and began to gather her clothes for the day, a black sweatshirt and a pair of jeans, before heading for her bathroom for a shower.

After blow-drying and brushing her hair out so it still lay loose with her omnipresent bang covering the right side of her face, Izumi finally put her feet back into her navy blue slippers before actually leaving her room. The hallways that circled that top half of Yamada Manor were brightly lit, thanks to all the plant-lined windows along the hall. Izumi navigated the corridor expertly and without thought, until she reached the first set of stairs leading to the bottom floor. It was there that she stopped, noticing that Hikaru's room door was ajar, though the room was relatively dark due to her thick curtains. Surely she too wouldn't be still sleeping…

As Izumi stuck her head in and turned the light on, intent on waking her best friend and yank her out of bed, she realized that Hikaru wouldn't still be sleeping. While the room was a total wreck of clothing, paper, and various other items of unknown use, both beds were at least somewhat properly made, and empty. That made no sense. Hikaru often stayed up to four or five in the morning. It wasn't like her to have left before noon , or even be up.

Of course, it was then that Izumi smacked herself lightly on the forehead. Of course Hikaru wasn't in. She wasn't even home. She had gone to Uribatake's that morning to help him out with his furniture. Izumi snorted at the absurdity of that statement. Hikaru probably showed up late because she didn't want to actually do any work. And they were probably fucking right now. Izumi knew Hikaru was sick and tired of being the last virgin, especially with her extensive knowledge of the act.

But Izumi had more pressing matters to worry about rather than how she was going to castrate their former mechanic: namely, the fact that, with Hikaru gone, no one was in. As Izumi turned the light off in Hikaru's room and descended the stairs, she ticked off on her fingers where everyone had gone. Even though she had had the day off, Akito still had work, so he was probably busy acting like he loved cashier work over at Peaceful Days. Gai, Itsuki, and Ryoko had probably all headed to Mugendai headquarters for another fun-filled day in the office. And… Izumi shook her head. That was it. Hikaru was busy screwing Uribatake senseless, Akito was busy take orders and money, and Gai and Itsuki were busy arguing, while Ryoko was probably busy playing many different versions of Solitaire. And Izumi…

Izumi was actually somewhat lonely. As she entered the kitchen in search of a bottle of water, Izumi felt a little puzzled at this feeling. It was one that she hadn't felt in quite a long time. Not since… Rinji died. Izumi shook her head. There was no need for depressing thoughts. Not just because people were off being busy. Perhaps Izumi had become more dependent on those she cared about than she chose to say.

As Izumi positioned herself to stand on the counter next to the refrigerator, she glanced out into the bright, early afternoon. The Yamada Manor patio served them little, and while Yurika had chosen to utilize the pool before leaving, all Izumi had ever seen the brick-tiled outside area used for was to leave the kitchen and go into Jun's house.

She meant, the guest house. She could see in clearly through the windows that lined the little breakfast nook which usually served more as a place to store things from pockets. Although no curtains were drawn, it still seemed dark, despite the light that flooded the living room there. Izumi slid to her feet and walked out of the kitchen and into the guest house.

Even Hikaru's room wasn't so dark. Of course, as Izumi turned on the overhead lights, it also seemed bare, despite the fact that nothing really had been moved. The desk under the stairs still had that wastepaper basket next to it, that computer on it, that chair inviting someone to sit. That TV still sat next to the stairs, and the couch still faced it. The decorations and plants in the room were still in place, but yet, there was something that left Izumi with an even darker sense of desolation. There was no stack of CDs on the desk. There was no thick science fiction novel or literary classic on the coffee table between the TV and the couch. There wasn't even a sweater tossed on the couch, a sign that Yurika was living in the same house as Jun. There wasn't even the baseball sitting on the floor, on the couch, or on the table. Izumi liked that ball. If you ever came in to watch TV or visit with Jun, it was always something to mess with, to throw up in the air and see if you could hit the ceiling. Something to keep your mind busy. And that was a specific sign of Jun's presence. Now, the only hints of such was Izumi's memory of laughter and tears shed in this little room, and the faint red tinge that was Jun's signature that kept fading in and out of her vision.

Izumi frowned deeply and leaned against the door jamb leading out to the sunny patio. There was no denying that Izumi missed Jun. They all did. Despite the fact that he sucked in an Aesti, he had become their friend. It felt as if an important piece of their circle was missing, with Jun not humming and typing something, or sitting with his rock music on full blast while reading one thing or another. Izumi felt closer to Jun than some of the other people that had lived there. Jun was logical and knew what the consequences of his actions often were, even if he did tend to follow his emotions more than his head. He had provided so much insightful conversation, and now Izumi couldn't help but think that her life wouldn't be complete without Jun in close reach to talk to about the everything they had. He was like Hikaru in a way that Izumi knew she could trust him absolutely and completely. And now he was gone, no longer living with them.

But it wasn't as if he had died, Izumi had to remember. He just moved to Tokyo , to be with Yurika. A move she had to applaud. Despite the fact that it was a move that nobody really wanted to happen, Jun was doing something that would help further his relationship with Yurika. He had been obsessed with their former captain for as long as Izumi had known him, and the fact that he was so close to marrying her, and had moved out to make sure that it would work this time made Izumi happy that he was gone, no matter how much she missed him. Marriage was the one step Jun was about to make that she hadn't had the chance to achieve, though she had come close twice. If Jun was going to do what he felt necessary, Izumi respected that.

Izumi sat down on the old guest house couch and picked the remote for the TV off the table, turning the box on and changing channels slowly. Surgery on babies. Hamsters having babies. Stupid teenage soap opera.

"Whatever happened to all the good shows they used to have on TV?" whispered Izumi harshly, turning the box off and tossing the remote back on the table. She twisted in her seat so she could put her feet up on the couch, crossing her arms and pouting. She swore never to have another day off again when she knew Hikaru wouldn't even be home. Izumi didn't like solitude anymore. She wanted to at least have someone to talk to before she depressed herself with her lonesome feelings. But, as she had already come to conclude, Hikaru was busy fucking Uribatake, and everyone else was probably either busily working, having grand office sex, or working so hard they would just come home and fall asleep in the parlor. This was probably the bad part about all of Izumi's close friends living with her.

Suddenly, a flash of insight made Izumi smack herself in the forehead once more. Aqua, was she really that dumb? All her best friends may have lived with her, but one key person in her life did not, and she certainly did not mean her mother. Izumi picked up the phone and, from memory, dialed Inez's lab.

After two rings, Izumi heard Inez's rather lethargic sounding voice. "Doctor Inez Fressange." Izumi felt a grin grace her face. Inez would be in her laboratory during her lunch hour, and thoroughly bored at that. It was her work ethic, she supposed, that made her do so, but Izumi assumed that didn't mean she had to make herself like it.

"Hey there, it's me. How's it going?"

"Izumi! What are you doing calling here?"

"What is it illegal now? Am I not supposed to or something?"

"No, it's just… Never mind. I'm just a little bored. Of course, I did skip out of the lunch trip today to get a little more work done, but I can't seem to find anything that needs to be done now."

"Lunch trip?"

"Yes. Erina, Kaguya, Viktor, and Goat had all planned to go out to lunch at some restaurant that serves sandwiches or something… Like I said, I skipped out. I don't like talking business over food anyway. So, is something wrong?"

"No, I was just feeling a little lonely, is all. Home alone and everything, so I needed to hear a friendly voice."

"Why, did you and Hikaru have a fight? Or is she actually out trying to get a job for once?"

"I find it extremely amusing that you think Hikaru's out getting a job. No, she went to Uribatake's to supposedly help him with his furniture. I'm pretty sure she's making good use of the fact that she broke her hymen when she learned to ride a bike."

Inez snorted. "I see. So you really are home by yourself."

"Yeah. I guess missing Junny on top of no one being home is what's really up."

"How are you with Jun having been moved out?"

"Me? Well, I feel okay about it. I think it's a good idea and all. It's just that something feels like it's missing here."

"Ah."

"Yeah. But, hey, no worries. His leaving got you up here. When are you going to come up again anyway?"

"…I don't know. Probably not for a while." Izumi instantly frowned. Something about Inez's voice suggested that she was hiding something. That, and the fact that the usual respond was something along the lines of, "When are you going to come down here?"

"Why not?"

"Things are getting… a bit hectic around here. I think I should lay low for a little while, if only to find out what's going on."

"Why, what are you talking about?"

"Izumi, please don't call me here anymore. I trust you, but… I don't want you involved. Things could take a turn for the worse if you are, and I don't want to risk it."

"Uh, okay. All right." It was twisted logic, Izumi knew. What did Inez want to protect her from?

"You sound skeptical. Just trust me on this, Izumi. It's almost one. I have to go."

"Okay. Bye."

"Good bye." Click. Izumi turned off the phone and stared at it in her hand. Inez had to "lay low"? Whatever for? Did this have to do with the fact that Inez and Kaguya were kept for questioning longer than Yurika and Akito? Did Inez just not want to turn the eyes of those out for vengeance towards Izumi just because she may be connected to Inez?

As Izumi set the phone down, Izumi narrowed her eyes. Maybe she was looking at this the wrong way. Maybe… Inez wasn't trying to protect her. Maybe she was trying to protect herself. Inez knew well of Izumi's previous romantic endeavors, even being betrothed against her will to one of them. Inez knew the consequences of dating Izumi. But with a killer on the loose… Oh Aqua. Inez thought she was next. It would make sense, as she too was a big and important person. And… Inez wanted to prevent that by staying away from Izumi. Keeping her away.

Izumi nodded to herself slowly, sadly. It made so much sense, that Izumi had to commend Inez for her thought processes. Izumi would stay away from her and not contact her, if necessary. It was self-preservation after all, and who could argue with that? Certainly not Izumi. She knew she was a techno boy band. Izumi snickered. Inez would be kept safe as long as Izumi had a say in it. After all, as long as no one knew her combination, she would be absolutely filthy rich, right?

Snicker.

---

Yurika looked over the warm display of chicken, smiling as one of the attendants of the deli cam over, probably to ask if she needed some help. Yurika held up her hand and shook her head before the woman could say anything, pushing her cart along. There wasn't much Yurika needed to get from the grocery store. Coffee, orange juice, milk, and maybe something she could use to make dinner. She didn't really know what she wanted to make, but she knew she was in the mood for Italian. And as long as it was somewhat easy to make, there wouldn't be any problems.

Yurika laughed at herself as she picked up a small red onion from a display, looking it over. She couldn't remember a time when she was this domestic. Thinking about what to have for dinner, trying to find something easy enough to make without fucking it up, such as the pizza she was now considering as she placed the onion in a bag. She only needed one. She wasn't even this much like a housewife while they had been on the run from the Nadesico, and certainly not during the short time she had been with Akito.

She frowned as she picked up a couple of cloves of garlic. She did not what to think of him. It just… depressed her how she had messed it up for them. Because they had no adult, real friendship before Yurika began insisting that they go out, they had nothing to go on. No real memories other than their time on Mars as children. They had both changed, and while Yurika had failed to see it before, she saw it now. Now they just had mutual friends, but that was good enough for her. But while Akito had been something of a school-girl crush, she had to admit that she pretty much had the rest of her life after the war planned, mostly dependent on her relationship with Akito striving and thriving, which it did not.

But Yurika had been so naïve then! She had even saved her first kiss for Akito. But she knew now that all it really was was a symbol of devotion. Akito had just been a silly, baseless crush, after all. But Nagare… he had been different. He had approached her, for one thing. Yurika really felt much closer to him, somehow. She didn't know why she felt so much more comfortable with him. Maybe… while with Akito, she was always trying to prove herself. But Nagare had done the opposite and tripped all over himself to please her. And despite the fact that Yurika couldn't trust him to be a one-woman man, she had trusted him enough to have sex with him. She had given Akito her first kiss, but she had given her virginity to Nagare. But Yurika still believed that she had loved Nagare during his time. Why else did thinking about him as she picked up a prebaked crust for the pizza she was to make that evening, even though she was happily engaged to Jun, make her smile and give her a feeling of warmth? It wasn't as if they hadn't ended on bad terms. Yurika had accused him of opening a door with Izumi before the attack of Magus and broken up with him. But it still made her happy to think of him. Unlike her other past relationships in Akito and Erina.

While thinking of Akito made her feel sorry, and Nagare made her feel as if she had just gotten hopped up on helium, Erina positively incensed her. Her relationship with the current CEO of Nergal still confused her as to how it began. Everyone knew it had officially started at the Peace Ball, when Erina had been able to say all the right things and had gotten her to crumble. But why she had crumbled still confused Yurika. She had NEVER had lesbian tendencies before, and everything Erina stood for made Yurika sick. She had been an opportunistic bitch during her time on the Nadesico, and their time together was impersonal at best. They had always talked little and were extremely unlike any romantic fantasy Yurika had ever had in her life. It was a relationship where they both could get whatever they wanted from the other without too many scruples as to the repercussions to their relationship. From what Yurika could tell, it was a common practice for Erina, but Yurika didn't play that game. The sex was nice, mind-blowing even, but at what cost? Impersonality with the person you were supposed to care about? And if that's what led Erina to go to Kaguya –

No. That wasn't what had happened. Erina had lost use of Yurika, so she went back to the one that she did still have use of. Kaguya. Erina had used her, and the fact that Yurika had let her do so made her grit her teeth as she lifted the can of coffee off the shelf and into the cart. And she had only let her do it because she was still so naïve. While she was more experienced and mature with Erina than she had been with Akito, she hadn't been truly scorned sore until she had been with Erina. But she knew it now. She knew how to identify real love, she knew how to trust, and she knew cruelty. So, with a soft smile, she was in a better position to be engaged to Jun. The first time, Yurika had to admit that she hadn't really understood the implications that she was going to marry Jun. But she did now. And that was half the reason she proposed to him at all.

Simply put, Yurika definitely loved Jun. And possibility that she couldn't be in love with him was absurd. He had tried so hard to honor her and care for her and protect her most of her life that she barely even knew that she had walked all over him all those years. Her fling with Erina had been the last straw, but in looking back, Yurika expected it to have come sooner. Jun's control of his emotions around her had been amazing, and she couldn't help but respect that.

But it wasn't guilt that made Yurika love Jun. He was so very loyal to her, in ways that the others either hadn't been or she had messed up in not acknowledging their loyalty. He had put up with her shit for so long and for so little that Yurika had full out expected Jun to tell her no when she proposed.

Why had she proposed? Yurika could not imagine her future anymore without him, for starters. She didn't want to plan it all out, out of fear of jinxing it, but she had let herself fantasize. Jun would become a successful songwriter, and Yurika would stay home to keep house. They could adopt a child to care for, since the concept of childbirth made Yurika want to be violently ill. They would watch their child grow and develop, calling each of Jun's friends aunts and uncles. Jun and Yurika would grow old together, until they passed away and left a sizeable amount of money to their child and their friends. Despite the morbid end, it was a fantasy that made her so enthusiastic in regards to marriage to Jun. She would have been perfectly content just being with Jun and not worrying about the rest, if he liked. This was what love was after all. Not caring what happened or if what she wanted ever took place, as long as she was with Jun.

It just took her three years and three other partners for her to figure it out.

---

Itsuki stretched long and luxuriously, reaching her arms high above her head before she collapsed in the chair she sat in, leaning back and rolling her head on her shoulders. She hated it when she had to do work at home. Of course, it was only reviewing the newest design for the missiles of the new frame, but still going through all the angled stills and blueprints that Uribatake had been able to get them right before they had left for the evening. And of course, Itsuki was the missile expert of the two of them…

There was a knock on the door leading out of the office and into the library. Before Itsuki could reply, however, it opened to show her girlfriend. Itsuki smiled and gestured to the chair against the wall as she sighed and stuck the drawings back into the folder. Ryoko saw them though and shook a finger at them. "Those the new drawings?"

"Yeah. Like I can tell if they're going to work from the drawings alone. They look fine though. We just gotta build them and test them. Then that should be that with the cannon system and we can work on the different customized frames." Itsuki closed the folder and set it on the desk, spinning in her chair. "What's up?"

"Oh, I just came to ask you… Izumi just called and said that they'll be running late tonight, so Hikaru and I are gonna go pick up takeout. Any preferences?"

Itsuki glanced up to the ceiling as she thought about her choice. "Can you pick me up a turkey sub? Just tomatoes and peppers… and I don't care about the bread or cheese."

"Sure. What do you want to drink?"

"Eh, just a soda. When are you guys leaving?"

"Not for a little bit yet. Hikaru's bugging Jiro for what he wants for ideas on what SHE wants. I suppose we'll just go when she's good and ready. Why? Just curious?"

"Not really." Itsuki stopped spinning her chair and leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees. As she was still dressed in the light blue dress she had worn to work that day, she knew she was actually showing quite a bit of skin, with the low cut neckline and went down to her abdomen. But Ryoko hadn't batted an eyelash. She was so dull sometimes. Unlike her brother, who was a grand barrel of laughs.

"Just curious on how you're doing with this whole… Jun thing." Ryoko face feel slightly, which made Itsuki frown. Ryoko could be occasionally boring, but making her feel a bit bad. But Ryoko just shook her head, the green ends of her hair brushing her shoulders. It had been growing out amazingly, and Itsuki believed she just might be ready to but it again. It was a bit shaggier than Itsuki had ever seen it before.

"No, it's all right. I miss him a little. Both of them, really. Yurika considers me her best friend and all, and I suppose we're pretty close, and Jun IS my stepbrother and all… And we see them every morning at Peaceful Days but…"

"It's not the same." Ryoko nodded at Itsuki's response. "I understand. I miss them not camping out in their house anymore. Magus, I can't even call it the guest house anymore!"

"None of us can, I think." Ryoko fell silent, staring at the knees of her khaki pants. Itsuki expected her to get up and leave to go ask Hikaru if she was ready to go. But it had already been a little more than a week. There wouldn't still be a reason for Ryoko to be overly sad about Jun and Yurika no longer living there, especially if they saw them everyday. She didn't make materialistic attachments like that.

Instead of letting Ryoko leave her chair, she cocked her head to the side and played with the end of her no-nonsense braid that was beginning to get a little wild. "What's wrong, Ryoko?"

Ryoko shrugged. "I was just… Thinking."

"About what?"

"Well… Just for… curiosity's sake, when are WE going to move out of Yamada Manor?" Ryoko slouched in her seat and looked away, as if ashamed.

Itsuki narrowed her eyes and dropped her braid, her whole face screwing up in skepticism. She could not believe that she had just asked that. "Why?"

"Hey, I'm just curious. I know we're not all going to live together forever, especially not Hikaru and Izumi. I was just wondering when we were going to go out and go find our own place like Jun and Yurika did."

Itsuki shook her head quickly, as if trying to refute this understand as soon as she could. "I honestly don't think we'll ever leave."

Now it was Ryoko's turn to appear incredulous to mirror what she felt. "Why not?"

Itsuki took a deep breath. Of course, she had suspected she would, eventually, have to answer this question, but she cursed Jun and Yurika for making it come so soon. She had expected it once Izumi and Hikaru felt their time was done there, not while they were still using the house for all it was worth. She threaded her fingers and sat up straight. Then she began. "Once upon a time, Kazamo Manor was my home. Jiro and I both visited each other's houses often, but Kazamo Manor was where I lived, officially. But, one day, while I was here, in that library often there, I believe, a Jovian Chulip fell on my house, killing my nanny, my parents, and Jiro's parents.

"Through our mourning and sudden growing hatred for the war we ourselves had been ignoring, we decided to not avoid the war anymore. After we finished our education, we decided that Jiro would set up Mugendai to run itself during the war while I joined the military ahead of him. Jiro had planned on joining the military once he was ready, but instead he had been called to join the Nadesico before he could do so. But you know that story, don't you?" Itsuki knew Ryoko was nodding. They all knew that story. They had told it on the Nadesico, they had told it as they passed Kazamo Manor with its murderous Chulip sticking out of it for the first time, and it was a story they knew well because of this. It wasn't one they would easily forget.

"But… I don't see what that has to do with your staying here in Yamada Manor."

Itsuki shook her head slowly. It didn't, really. "Despite the fact that we were once set to be married, Jiro is more my brother than you will ever know." Itsuki closed her eyes as she remembered perfectly what had happened that day, once the initial shock and tears had passed. "When… when our parents died, Jiro swore something to me. He swore that Yamada Manor would be my home no matter what. If I couldn't live in my own home, I would live in his. He called me his sister then, and said that family should stick together. He was going to do what he must for me, and only because he loved me. Not the way he loves Akito, or that I love you, but in the way that… you love Junny. And even if I have the means to go and rebuild Kazamo Manor for myself, I couldn't leave him here. He had done so much, gone out of his way to make his home mine too. I couldn't make it sound like I disfavor our familial bond by leaving. So here is my home, and here I shall stay." Itsuki narrowed her eyes. With Ryoko's head bent, she couldn't see her face. It made her worried. "Ryoko, are you all right?"

"Yeah, it's just…" Ryoko reached up and wiped an eye, making Itsuki widen her eyes, taken aback by the idea that she had talked Ryoko into tears. "It's just that… that so beautiful, you know. I just… I wish I could have that kind of connection to Jun. He's… He's my big brother, you know? And when he's in trouble or feeling bad he always… He always fucking goes to Akito and Izumi. Just once… I'd like it if he needed me for something."

Itsuki rolled her chair closer to where Ryoko sat, taking Ryoko's hands in her own and trying to bend down to see Ryoko's face. "But Jun does need you. He needs you to live his life as he wants. He wants you approval, needs it. You told me yourself that Jun had considered you first for an Assist in his wedding before Yurika got to you first. You guys may not talk all the time, but Jun wants to give you a say in the most important event of his life. I think that counts so much more than Jiro giving me permanent room and board here, where it's no big deal to be getting free room and board."

Ryoko shook with a small laugh as she sniffed. "Well, it's only fair, Itsuki. Junny and I are legally siblings. You and Jiro are just by concept."

"Magus, rub it in, why don't you?" Itsuki pulled Ryoko's face up and kissed her softly. She smiled at her girlfriend before letting a hand fall from Ryoko's cheek so that she could possibly bring a more happy smile to the face of her tomboy.

"Ryoko, what the fuck is taking so long? Ah, shit, I should have known." Itsuki and Ryoko's eyes and heads turned quickly to the door leading into the library. "I knew you were into office sex, Itsuki, but I didn't think it literally."

"Shut the fuck up, Hikaru," Ryoko's voice recovered before Itsuki's. "We were talking."

"Talking, fucking, it all depends on what you want to call it. We gotta stop at that chicken wing place for me and Gai. He wants to be a pussy and get the mild ones."

"All right, I'm comin'." Ryoko let Itsuki's hands slip down her body as she stood up. With a quick kiss into her violet hair, she stepped over their chairs and left with a quick wave. Itsuki smiled.

She had every intention of staying and living here for most of her life. And with that gesture, Itsuki knew Ryoko did now too. So even if Izumi or Hikaru moved out, they would be sad and miss their own brand of mundane chaos, but it would be all right. They were surviving with Yurika and Jun gone after all.

---

"…and then after that, Yukina and I headed back home and Yukina had headed off to go do some more of her English homework, since she needed a reason to not be in the room. I don't think she heard a word, since she was already pretty huffy when it came to him. And I could hear every note of her video game music in the living room."

"Sounds like she wasn't working on her English homework at all."

"Oh, she was. After I finished discussing the problem with Toju, I went in to check on her and I had to get her to turn her stereo down. You won't believe what they have kids doing these days for the standard English class. You'd think they were fluent!"

"Well, it's not like I had the full experience of a Japanese English class. They never wanted me in there because I would always annoyed the teacher because I tried to correct their English. But you talked to him about it, what did he say?"

Minato had been utilizing her communicator for nearly an hour that night. Minato was fully aware that most of the others had no reason to continue the use of theirs, though they did have them, but Minato would be damned before she gave up her only connection to her best friend, despite how much younger she was. It wasn't as if she could just call Ninlan up on the telephone, after all. This was the easiest way, though the time difference did tend to get to her. Even now, Minato had to call late at night, dressed in nothing but her bathrobe in her intentions to go to bed right after, for her to reach Ninlan in the height of the afternoon.

"Well, the gist of what I said was that I do respect his opinion and all. He has a right to one of course, and I respect that he has made a choice. But I told him that for the duration of his stay here, he has to keep quiet about his feelings toward Jupiterian and Jumpers in general. If only to keep up the harmony of the house, you know?"

"And has he?"

"Generally. I admit that there have been a few moments these past couple of weeks when Toju and Yukina have been a bit… quarrelsome is probably the best word. They try to steer clear of each other, but sometimes their arguments and name calling erupts without warning."

Megumi sighed and rested her face in her hands. It was obvious the time there. While Minato felt a bit messy with her hair loose and dressed in her pajamas, Megumi was still very tidy, her hair still in a perfect pile on her head while she was still dressed in her voluminous, sparkling white dress, even if they both sat on their beds. "It must be terrible for them to make you choose between them. Your only brother and your only sister-in-law… I'm just glad my family never gave me that lovely luxury."

"Ha, ha. Very funny. But it's not that it's all that hard. Toju did eventually put two and two together, so to speak, about Tsukumo. If his sister's a Jovian, he is too, after all. Toju actually tried to chew me out for agreeing to marry a Jupiterian, even if he was on his deathbed."

"Ooo, I can just IMAGINE! So, where did you bury the body, Minato?"

"I didn't kill him, but it certainly did leave a sour taste in my mouth. I honestly don't think he'll be asking to crash here next summer." Minato paused, then ran a hand through her somewhat tangled locks. "Speaking of murder, what did Rumiko have to say about that whole Martian thing?"

"Oh, Gods! It was all I could do to not let him try to reinvestigate Yurika again! And I may not even like Akito any more, but I honestly don't believe that either Yurika or Akito were even slightly capable of murder. It's just not like them, you know? And Miss Fressange's explanation about how knowing it was a Martian that did all this didn't narrow it down much made sense."

Minato hissed and shook her head slowly. "I don't know, Megumi. Miss Fressange's explanation sure did seem to come at a very convenient time for her, to take the blame away from her and all."

"You don't think…"

"No, of course not! It's just… I'm just saying it looks suspicious, is all." Minato shook her head again. "This isn't a good subject at all."

Megumi crossed her arms and scoffed. "Well, you suggested it!"

Minato let out a laugh, but didn't argue this point. "When are you and Rumiko going to come back to Earth for a visit? It IS your turn to drop by, after all…"

"Well, we're both expected to show back there in three weeks for Ninlan's induction into the System Alliance, so…"

"You aren't serious?!"

"Yeah. I guess they were impressed with the way we handled a rebellion and call for independence."

"Extra points for pacifism?"

"I guess. I know we didn't get a perfect, unanimous vote in because I guess a few of the bigwigs thought we were wimps for letting some of our land and power go. But I suppose more of them thought we were wise for preserving peace at any cost, even our own political power."

"So when is the ceremony?"

"Not for three weeks, but it's going to take place in Northeastern United States . I want to try to convince Rumiko to let us come in a bit earlier so we could have some time to visit you guys in Japan ."

"That sounds great! I can't wait 'til you guys show! But… I'm afraid you guys'll have to stay at a REAL hotel."

"Oh, of course. If we didn't, I'd have to listen to Rumiko complain that he had to sleep on a couch bed, oh my Gods!"

"Has that whole Emperor thing really gotten that bad to his head?"

"No, not really. Just enough to cause him headaches. He's really getting better about his pretentiousness, which is good. I'm really proud of him and gaining a little bit of humility."

"Ah, nothing like non-Jumpers that love Jumpers, right?"

Megumi smiled and nodded, but looked a bit beyond the window. "Hey… what time is it there?"

Minato glanced at her alarm clock. "Eleven, why?"

"Don't you have work tomorrow?"

"Yes, why?"

"Gods damn it all to hell, Minato! You are not going to lose your job because of me!"

"I'm not going to lose my job regardless."

"Well… Gah! Minato, I, as Empress of the Grand Empire of Ninlan, order you to bed!"

"Yes ma'am." Minato gave a small salute, which made Megumi smile again and giggle. "Good night, Minato. Sweet dreams."

"Have a good evening, Meg." Minato then waved before closing the window, pulling back her sheets and disrobing. Talking to Megumi always gave her a good feeling about everything, even if things were going bad. Minato was usually an optimist, but when things weren't looking so good, even the optimist could use a little outside help to pull herself together. She got into bed and wrapped herself up, smiling. And that was why she and Megumi were best friends. Why Megumi had chosen her to be her Maiden Assist. Because they both leaned on each other equally, so no one's problems seemed larger than the others. Because they weren't. And if they were, they would make it through together.

---

It was a standard Monday in Peaceful Days. Right at the tail end of the morning rush, where those that were still hanging around had no real intention of leaving for work, they entered. Yurika looked up as she heard Izumi cry out, "Ah, the cannons have come to reload!" Ryoko sighed and slouched, rolling her eyes. Yurika smiled out of courtesy, but then frowned to herself. Izumi had been certainly generous with the puns lately. Yurika could only wonder what it meant. But this thought left her as Ryoko sat down at one of the booths, obviously waiting for Gai and Itsuki to finish up getting their morning coffee, news, and gossip from those that ran the restaurant. With a glance at the punster, Yurika left the small counter and sat down across from Ryoko, patting her on the shoulder as she walked by. "Hey, what's up?"

"Ah, nothing much. Just stopping by like usual. I just don't feel like getting anything today." Ryoko leaned back in the booth, cracking her fingers. "So how's shacking up with my stepbrother?"

"Magus, make it sound so scandalous, why don't you?" But Yurika grinned and let out a small laugh. "Actually, it's been really nice. It'd be great if we could get some privacy around there though… Everyone and their brother's been showing up with food and decorations and good wishes…"

"Everyone, like who?"

"Just about everyone we know in Japan , really. Mr. Prospector, Uribatake-san, Mr. Hory, Minato and Yukina, Kaguya and Erina… That one really kind of confused me. Oh! And my father!"

"Ah, so what did dear Daddy say about you shacking up with Junny?"

"Oh, stop it! He got all blubbery about how his little girl is growing up and taking responsibility. You'd think I was going on the Nadesico all over again." She stuck her tongue out and rolled her eyes.

Ryoko let out a small laugh at her face before leaning back on the table. "So it's been nothing much other than everyone in Japan knocking on your door and giving you fruit baskets?"

"Oh, Gods, no. Junny put in an application a few days ago."

"Ah, the lazy bum going to finally get a job?"

"We hope so. It was answering an ad for a songwriter for some local band… 'Subtracting World', I think they're called. But they want someone that doesn't want to be in the spotlight and let them do the musical work."

"Sounds perfect for Jun."

"I thought so to, but he hasn't gotten a call back yet, so he's in pretty low spirits… I've been doing my best to bring him back up, but you know how Jun gets when he's down."

"All to well. So to stop him from burning down the house, what did you do?"

"Um…"

"Ah. So you've been fucking left and right. And why were you worried about my making it sound scandalous?"

"Oh, you!" Yurika laughed, hiding her mouth with a fist as she blushed. "Well, once I got him past the basics, sex has been, well… quite interesting."

"How so? Come on, spill it. How many times have to made him dress up like a nun?"

"That was NOT my doing, actually. He was the one that was so insistent that we do all those damn funerals."

"Now that's a detail I missed. Jun went out of his way to cross-dress? Eh, not something I'm surprised by. So you got the role-playing down, then?"

"Um, actually… it's a lot deeper than that."

"Huh?"

"Well, um… he can be very hot, you know. Sometimes it hurts, he's so hot."

"You mean… Warm?"

"Yeah. Apparently it's hard for him to hold back when we're having sex, so he just does enough to not set the room on fire."

"Ah, so you guys got that whole magical aspect to it."

"You could say that."

"And you…?"

"Well, um… I'll just say that we both concur that it's a whole different experience to feel someone's else orgasm."

"…You went into his HEAD?"

"We tend to do that most of the time, actually. He feels everything I feel because I allow him, and he lets me feel what he's feeling, even manipulate his sensations a little so they're, well… a little more intense." Yurika blushed at this admission.

Ryoko just smiled and shook her head. "You should be ashamed of yourself. Using magic on him while you two are fucking. What does that make you, the embodiment of Magus's Rage, where the rage part is describing his hormones?"

"Oh, stop it!" Yurika laughed again, but as the humor faded, her smile did as well. While it may have been an entertaining subject to dabble in, Jun's and her sex life was not why she had come over to Ryoko. She had come over to make sure everything was okay. "So, um… Did anyone tell you about who Junny picked for his Assist?"

"Yes, and Jun is an asshole."

Yurika bit her lip. "You know… it's perfectly okay if you decide to drop out. I won't think of you any less or anything. I know how infuriating Akito can be… Oh, what do I know, you live with him! It's just…"

"Yurika." Yurika looked up to see Ryoko cupping her hands. Ryoko stared her down, her lips in a perfect line and her blue eyes denying Yurika's to look away with embarrassment, shame, or boredom. Ryoko was demanding to be heard without saying a thing. It was so odd how Yurika could tell this. It wasn't as if she was Hikaru or Izumi, or even Itsuki for that matter. Just because Yurika considered Ryoko her closest friend didn't mean that Ryoko reciprocated. So when did Yurika become to adept at identifying the tomboy's intentions through her actions?

"I already had this discussion with Jun. I'm surprised her didn't tell you about how I almost killed him. He gave me the impression that that would be the first 'my stepsister is a psycho!' he would have given you." At Yurika's shaken head, Ryoko mirrored the action. "The fact that I have to kiss that disgusting, warty, herpes-filled mouth that is Akito's does not, is not, and probably won't ever deter me from giving up my position as your Assist. And dear Terra, I hope that Jiro didn't hear a word of that." Ryoko looked over her shoulder worriedly, gritting her teeth and widening her eyes as she tried to glance discreetly from where Gai gave Akito a quick kiss before coming a bit closer and yelling at Itsuki to get off the phone, where Ryoko's girlfriend promptly gave him the finger. But she quickly turned back to Yurika, even if her eyes lingered a bit longer than her visage.

Yurika smiled gratefully, grinning so much that all of her top teeth showed. "I am so glad. I honestly didn't even know who else I could possibly get! I mean… we've had our moments, you know?"

"Yeah. Good moments, those have been. Not that many recently, which makes me wonder why the hell you decided I was your best choice for Assist."

Yurika bit her lip again, her eyes downcast. "Well… I just really feel that I can trust you. With everything, although I know I shouldn't unless you ask. I just… I want you to have a position in it, you know? I want you to be important on what's going to be the happiest day of my life."

Ryoko's mouth curved upward slightly in a smile that was more similar to Ruri's than should be allowed. She patted Yurika's hands. "Hey, I know we don't really have a reason or anything to bond all that much… And I know you miss the house. How about you and Junny pop by sometime for dinner?"

"Here's a better idea. How about you and Itsuki come over to OUR house next week for the same?"

"Uh… but our house would have Akito the Cooking Slave to exploit."

"He would also be making my life that night a living hell. Just some of our time."

"You got a point. All right. Next week, you say?"

"As in week from tonight. Gotta wait for the check to come in for groceries before I start planning the lavish meal in honor of Junny's esteemed stepsister."

"You flatter me. But last I recall, your cooking sucks more cock than Akito on a good day."

"I've been practicing! I follow all the cookbooks to the letter and I don't daydream."

"Yeah, sure."

"Ryoko!" Both Yurika and Ryoko looked up at the single word. Itsuki had her head tilted to the side as she carried her to-go coffee, courtesy Izumi; a thick black binder with some rather interesting degrees of disarray applied to the various papers inside; and her yellow purse slung on her wrist. She widened her dark eyes and shook her head quickly, expectantly. She rolled her eyes before heading out of the restaurant.

Ryoko scratched the back of her two-colored head. "My fishwife calls."

"Then perhaps you should heed it."

"Week from tonight?"

"Yeah. I'll call you with the details, like time and what horrible food to expect."

"All righty then. I'll be waiting by the phone!"

Yurika grinned and waved as Ryoko pushed open the door leading both in and out of the restaurant. She stood and walked back over to the counter, clapping Izumi on the hand as the taller woman held hers up. Akito, working the other cash register, raised an eyebrow. "And just what was that all about?"

"Girl talk of the leader-type persuasion. You wouldn't understand, being male and subordinate and all."

---

Aqua green eyes met dark blue behind a red sheer curtain in the mirror. A small smile broke out on Yurika's face, and Jun mirrored it as well. But Jun's smile turned to a grin of disgust as he covered his eyes quickly. "Good Goddess of Fire, Yurika. I like you cleaning your teeth and all, but I don't want to see the damage of the act, okay?!"

Yurika grinned brighter before cupping her hands under the running water of the faucet, taking some of the trapped water into her mouth to rinse all the foam from her teeth-brushing just moments before. Then, after wiping her mouth with a hand towel, she picked up her brush and started pushing it through her hair. "So what do you suppose I make for our little dinner tomorrow? I was thinking of making a stew… or maybe just a salad and some bread. Ooo, I saw this one recipe for zucchini bread this morning!"

"Zucchini BREAD?" Jun gave Yurika an incredulous look over the top of the book he was reading. "Yurika, when did you get to become such a… vegetarian? We had a salad for dinner yesterday, and a casserole made from TATER TOTS the day before!"

Yurika turned back to Jun, then turned fully before fisting her hands on the hips of her revealing nightie. "I just think we should be eating healthier, that's all! Is there something wrong with that?" At Jun's narrowed eyes and raised eyebrow, Yurika bit her lip and caved. "Okay, I just really, really like to lose some weight. Do you understand that, since I moved into Yamada Manor, I gained nine kilograms? NINE, Junny! And I solely blame Akito and his cooking."

Yurika smiled as Jun did. "But that would mean you DUALLY blame Akito and his cooking!"

"Grammar Nazi."

"Exactly. Hey, turn the fan on, please? It's getting warm in here."

Yurika flipped on the switch by the bathroom door, turning the ceiling fan they had installed last week. She then turned back to the mirror and got very close to it, pushing in her nose with a finger. She always did think her nose as a bit too pointy. "Hey, Jun…"

But before she could finish her question, the phone began to ring, startling both Yurika and Jun. Yurika glanced at the clock on their nightstand as she came out of their bathroom and into their bedroom. "Who the hell is calling at ten at night? I mean, I know it's Saturday and all, but talk about rude!"

Jun nodded slowly as he picked up the receiver and held it to his face. "Moshi-moshi?" Yurika hopped onto their bed and scooted up so she was sitting next to Jun, looping her bare arm around his and resting her chin on his shoulder. She tilted her head to see his face, and was rather surprised to see his eyebrows together and his eyes narrowed, looking off into the distance at nothing. "Yes, this is Aoi Jun." Yurika looked off into the same direction and stuck her lip out into a pout. So she would only get half this conversation. "You… You do?! What, now? Really? Oh, sure… Yeah, I can be there in twenty. Oh my Goddess of Fire, you have no idea how much this means to me! Yeah, sure, I can bring some of my stuff. Yeah, I'll be right there! Bye!" Jun turned the phone off and flung himself off the bed, eyes wide and hands shaking.

Yurika, having fallen to the bed, held herself up on her elbows. "What is it, Junny?"

Jun began to pace as his hands shook faster. He looked around the room quickly from side to side, as if not really sure what he was looking for. Once his eyes fell on the nightstand without the clock, he rushed at it, opening the drawer and pulling out a black binder. He opened it and flipped through it a bit, as if to make sure there were some key pieces in there. He looked back at Yurika with still-wide eyes. "I got an interview, Yurika. With Subtracting World."

Yurika's face brightened and she too leapt off the bed. "Oh my God of Spirit, that's wonderful, Junny!" She flung her arms around his neck and they both spun for a second. Yurika went over the conversation in her head. "Wait… they want you to go there NOW?"

"Yeah. And I don't care what time it is, I'm going to go right now. I… I need pants!" Jun pulled off his pajama bottoms and started rifling through their dresser drawers. Yurika, of sounder mind than Jun at the moment, opened their closet and handed him a pair of his jeans. Jun thanked her and shoved his feet through the holes roughly, missing the first time. Once he had on the pants, he quickly changed shirts three times, from his pajama shirt to a nice shirt, then a band shirt that Gai had given him for his birthday. After that, he ran his hands through his chin length hair and grabbed his portfolio. "How do I look? Fine? Okay?"

"Junny, I know you're excited, but calm down! You might scare them away if you show up so happy!"

Jun nodded quickly and started to shake his fists. "Okay, okay. Calm. Calm. I can do this."

Yurika shook her palms at him. "Okay, screw calm. You need to get over there!" Yurika grabbed her robe and followed as Jun practically flew out of their bedroom, wrapping it around herself and securing it before following him to the door, where he switched out his slippers for his shoes.

Jun then stood up completely straight, taking in a deep, calming breath through his nose. Then he turned and wrapped his arms around Yurika's waist. "I love you, Yurika."

"I love you too, Junny." Yurika pecked him on the lips several times. "You're going to do fine." She flashed him another reassuring smile, and he relaxed visibly.

"Thanks, so much, Yurika. Please… Don't wait up for me."

"Don't give me that. I won't be able to sleep until I hear from you."

Jun kissed her that time, picking up his portfolio from the floor and grabbing his keys off the hook on the wall. "All right, wish me luck."

"Good luck, Junny!" Jun smiled as he closed the door and locked it behind him.

Yurika took a deep sigh of relief and euphoria. Jun needed this so much. Jun had felt so worthless these past few weeks, with them living off Yurika's paychecks from both Peaceful Days and Nergal. Even if Jun wanted to take Yurika's name once they got married, Yurika knew he really wanted to prove himself worthy of him. "Idiot," she whispered. He had already proven himself a million times over. But if this was what Jun wanted, then she wanted it to. She loved him, after all.

Yurika then did something she never did. As she sat down on their freakish-looking couch, she clapped her hands together slowly, letting her middle and ring fingers crawl down so that they were curled into her hands, leaving only her thumbs, pointer fingers, and pinkies touching and standing. Then she placed the knuckles of her thumbs on her lips, letting her eyes slide closed. "Please, Magus. You've screwed the both of us up with Nagare. Now I need you to do something to pay us back. Please let this work out for Junny. Let him get this job. I don't ask for much. I don't care what they pay him. Just let them hire him. You owe me, and you know it."

After a few moments, Yurika let her eyes reopen as she glanced up at the ceiling. Of course, she expected no response, really. No immediate one, at least. It wasn't like her to pray. But she knew her patron god heard her. She was one of his "favorites", a label that made her squirm. And he did owe her, after all. Her and Junny, but Jun wasn't his. Yurika was. She shook her head slowly before reaching for the remote for their TV. "And I mean it, Magus."

---

It only took an hour and a half before Yurika's vow to stay up for Jun began to lose its power over Yurika's alertness and awareness. With the plan of waking up the second Jun got home to hear the news, she had gone off to bed. Of course, a little nap would help her absorb all the details when he came home anyway.

But she had barely been in bed fifteen minutes when she heard the bedroom door open. With a glance at the clock, Yurika sat up, rubbing her tired eyes. She had just achieved a light doze, and her sight was limited at best. She pushed the hair out of her face as she reached over to the lamp on her nightstand, switching it on as she felt Jun sit down on his side of the bed. "How'd it go, Junny?"

"I'm not Junny." Yurika didn't feel more shock at the words themselves than the voice that carried them. Rough, hard, yet familiarly female. Yurika jumped sky high as her head swiveled to see the women sitting on her bed. Women? There were two?! Yurika's pulse raged at the base of her throat as she scrambled to vacate the bed, attempting to see who had entered her house without permission, but the light attacking her eyes made it impossible for her to identify the women.

She didn't make it out of the bed before the one who had spoken had plunged her butcher's knife deep into her chest, missing her protective ribs and piercing straight into her left lung. Yurika's vision clouded with stars as she felt her blood slowly begin its mission to drown her. Shaking, she turned her head, which had fallen against the headboard, to her attacker, her mouth agape in shock. The woman shook her head slowly. Yurika could just barely make out a soft smile on her face as she began to feel the burning, raging pain in her chest. She raised her shaking hands slowly, to the gaping, gasping hole that was spurting blood that darkened her already red sheets. The woman clicked her tongue on her mouth. "Too bad, Yurika. We could have used you as a scapegoat, but you were leading them off the trail we desired them on a bit too much. Can't have them finding out, can we?"

Yurika coughed violently, more blood escaping through her mouth, beading on her silky nightie. The other woman looked away as if she was going to be sick. "God, how can you be doing this?"

"Like this." The knife sheathed itself into Yurika's other lung, scraping along her rib cage that time. Yurika cried out, gurgling as blood rose in her throat and pooled in her mouth as she flung her head back. Bad decision, she discovered, as the armed woman grabbed her blue-violet hair and held her throat out. She smiled evilly. "I love it when my prey becomes docile and accepts their defeat. Look, she's offering me her throat! Isn't it how lovely and beautiful how a small act of violence can get you whatever you desire?" She pulled the knife out of Yurika's chest once more and laid it on her throbbing, stained neck. Yurika shook even more as blood trickled out the sides of her mouth as she coughed and choked. She shook her head though, her aqua green eyes wide in fright and shock. The woman with the knife nodded. "You're right, Yurika. It's far too early for that. An obvious cause of death." The knife left her neck, but Yurika didn't relax in this woman's grasp. She had no reason to. The knife had found yet another new home in her body, just a little closer to the center of her chest than the first stabbing. This one didn't miss a thing. It hit dead-on to its target: Yurika's heart. For a moment, Yurika's body was seized as her heart attempted to work despite this fatal attack. But then her body fell limp, her hands collapsing in her lap and her head falling away from Yurika's killer, as if looking away, ashamed.

She stood slowly, pushing herself off of the bed. She flexed her blood-streaked fingers and glanced at her accomplice. "Oh come now. I told you about this months ago."

"But it was Yurika."

"Well, I suppose it is a bit more of a different story, yes. Mythos and Yurika are totally different stories." She glanced around the room, paying a great amount of attention to the metal pole that held up the red curtain that surrounded the bed. Then her eyes fell upon the ceiling fan, and her smile came back. She walked around the bed and pushed the curtain out of the way so she could have better access to the body that was once Yurika. "Come help me. I've got a great idea of what to do with her."

---

TBC…

---

A/N: In my defense, my conscience is beating the hell out of me for this. This had been in the plans for the longest time, from the very first outlines of IyM, but… I didn't think it would be so hard to do. Farewell, dear friend. Your part in this tale is over. Do as you will to ease my guilt, but things are as they stand. I didn't want to do it, but the show must go on. Feel free to review.


	29. 070799 070899

A/N: Well. Now you know what I've been planning. From this point forward, there will be little characterization filler that doesn't have to do with the plot. Sure, people's feelings on the matter, but beyond that, it's smooth sailing from here on into the end. So… Let's earn our "drama" label now, shall we?

---

Jun nodded his head and tapped his hands on the steering wheel as he navigated the darkened streets from the recording studio back home. A shit-eating smile brightened his face as he mouthed the words to the free CD he had received from Kano Anzai, the lead vocals and guitar for Subtracting Worlds.

There had only been two of the band there that evening, but as Anzai had explained, he and Umeko, who was back-up vocals and guitar, hated each other's guts. That was why they usually failed to agree on songs or even to be seen together unless they were practicing or playing. Umeko had apparently broken up with Anzai to be with their bass player, a stick-in-the-mud named Kumagae Hidekazu. Jun had to just sit and absorb their dynamics before they even asked his name. Umeko had hit Anzai on the head and pushed him under the desk before introducing herself to Jun. She apologized that her boyfriend and her brother, Kiyomitsu, drums, weren't in, but they thought it was a wonderful opportunity since Umeko and Anzai were in and not throwing things at each other. Jun had had the fleeting idea that Umeko and Anzai didn't get along in the same way Itsuki and Gai didn't get along, which was actually very well.

Umeko had taken his portfolio and sat on his lap. "So, let's see what you have here, sweetie." She had skipped right past his resume and such went straight to the songs. Her slanted blue eyes had scanned the page, her whole body bobbing as she read the words. Jun had turned a red that, once again, rivaled his nanocontroller. But it was only a mere minute before she had leapt up and ran to Anzai's side, tugging on the sleeve of his shirt. "Hey, hey, read this one. It's kinda surreal, but…"

Anzai's amber eyes had read much slower than Umeko's, his lips moving as he read. Jun had squirmed, uncomfortable as the two guitarists read his words. It had been a song that Jun had just thrown in for laughs, called "Here and There". Umeko had been right, it was a very surreal song, and one that could have a whole bunch of different meanings.

Anzai's eyebrows jumped as he read the last line, and he had stared at Jun incredulously. "Jesus Christ, that's what you are."

"Um, no?"

Umeko bounced in front of where he sat. "It's absolutely perfect! Not straightforward, not giving away what the main idea is, and let's the listener figure it out for themselves!"

"When can you start, Aoi-san?"

Jun had scratched the back of his head. "Um, whenever you want me?"

And thus Jun got all the details worked out with the leader and back-up of Subtracting Worlds. His band. Jun had a job. And a job he had wanted for a very long time. It didn't matter if they were just local. He was a songwriter. This had to be the absolutely happiest day of his life.

Jun turned the car off after parking in the driveway. He opened the car door and exited, practically spinning as he searched his keys for the house door. After opening the front door, he pushed the button on his keys that locked the car before closing the front door behind him. Surprised by how dark the house was, he glanced at his watch. Well, no wonder. He had left almost three hours ago. Yurika had said she would stay up, but Jun was glad she had decided not to. She had to take a Jump shuttle to Hiratsuka and go through her weekly Jump tests later that day, as it was about one in the morning now.

Jun switched out his shoes into slippers and headed straight for their bedroom. But as he rounded the hall, he saw that the light was on in there still. Yurika wouldn't still be awake, would she? She must have just fallen asleep reading. Jun hoped so at least. He didn't want her half-asleep tomorrow while attempting to Boson Jump. They could end up somewhere like Ancient Jupiter if such a thing was to happen. Jun grasped the handle and opened the door, ready to scold Yurika if she was still awake before he would excitedly and ecstatically disclose his victory.

But he never got the chance. As soon as he had taken a step into the room and actually looked about, his hand fell from the handle. His heart skipped a beat, and began racing to catch back up with itself. His eyes grew wide in shock as his breath became erratic. He couldn't feel his legs. It, it couldn't have been, could it?

"No…" he breathed out slowly, his head beginning to shake without his knowledge. The back of his head, where his neck and head met, ached as his eyes began to feel a bit heavy and wet. He took several deep breaths to try to convince himself that this was all just a big joke. "It… It's not possible…" His hand, shaking, covered his mouth slowly.

The room, for the most part, was untouched. Most of their belongings were still in their perfect positions, the thin layer of dust on their surface still evenly coated. But most of the carnage was in the area of the bed. The red sheer curtains had large, dark stains upon them, hiding some of the view of the destroyed, blood-soaked bed. But the curtains did not hide the body sitting up on the bed. It was undeniably Yurika, dressed in the same pink and red nightie he had left her in. Though the nightie was even redder than it had been before, dark on the chest, yet lighter as it trailed down to her stomach, where her hands rested limply.

But that was certainly not the first thing Jun noticed. But it had solidified that what he had first saw was real. After all, there was no head attached to the gruesomely torn neck at the top of the body, no head resting against the back of the headboard. Yurika's head was, in fact, suspended from the ceiling fan Jun had asked her to turn on three hours prior, hanging from her blood-streaked blue-violet hair tied in a fierce knot over one of the blades.

Jun coughed and gagged as the thick smell of iron finally reached his senses. He forced the contents of his stomach to stay where they were as his eyes grew hazy from tears. Had they come from the sight, or the smell? Jun still did not believe that Yurika, Yurika was… He fell to his knees and stared at their tile flooring. It was impossible. Yurika couldn't… who could have done this?

Jun jumped as he realized that this wasn't something that had just happened to Yurika. Someone did it. Eyes wide and leaking over, he ran out of the room and grabbed the phone in the kitchen. His quaking fingers were quick to dial the emergency dispatcher's line. He attempted to stop the overflowing of his eyes as he pressed the receiver to his head. He started to hyperventilate as he heard it ring once. Twice. Then he heard a nasal operator's voice, as if bored and ready to go home. "What's your emergency?"

Jun struggled to get a hold of his voice. "M-my fiancée, she… she's been, been murdered. In… In our house. I… I found her."

Obviously the panic he was experiencing had permeated his voice, because the sound of ennui left the dispatcher's voice, going into full command. "Now just calm down sir. I've got a tracking on your address and I'm sending the authorities over there as we speak." Her tone drifted from commanding to very comforting. "Now, sir, where are you right now? Are you in the house?"

"Yes. In the kitchen." What the fuck did this have to do with anything?

"Okay, are you on a cord phone?"

"No."

"Sir, I want you to get out of the house, preferably into the front yard. We don't know if they are still in there or not, and we have no way of checking until the authorities get there. All right?"

The dispatcher didn't have to tell Jun twice. With a glance down the hallway, he quickly exited the house through the front door, not bothering to change his shoes. To think that he had just entered the house through this door as happy as a lark. "Okay. I'm… I'm outside."

"Okay. They should be arriving any time now. Just sit outside and don't go anywhere else. Now, I want you to stay on the phone with me, okay, sir?"

"Okay."

"Now, can you tell me your name? My name is Brenda Kayla Clements, but you can call me Brenda."

"…Aoi Jun."

"Ah, so you are Japanese? I was born in America but I came here as a child. Have you ever been to America ?"

"Yes. To visit my friend's mother and another friend's grandmother."

"Was that an awkward trip?"

"Not really."

"What are your friends' names, Jun?"

"The one with the mother in America is named Izumi and the one with the grandmother is Hikaru." Jun knew what the woman on the phone was doing. Trying to keep Jun from getting anymore into hysterics than he already was. It was a nice gesture, but probably protocol.

"Do they live in Tokyo as well?"

Jun didn't answer, but he stood as the police cars both came up to the front of his yard. "The cops are here."

"Oh, good. Let me talk to one of them."

Jun walked away from his house to one of the cars, where a female officer came out the driver's door. Jun held the phone out to her. "The dispatcher, Brenda wants to talk to you."

The officer smiled at him and took the phone from him. "Okay, what do we got? …I see. Okay. Yeah, I'll call for reinforcements if I need them. Bye, Brenda." She gave him the phone back and he hung it up. "Where did you find her?"

"In the… in the bedroom. It's… it's at the end of the hall." Without Brenda's comforting, nasal voice to talk about things other than the fact that Yurika was… decapitated, Jun felt his breathing quicken again. He began to fidget, his hands shaking as he tried very, very hard not to cry. The officer looked to her passenger, a young man about Jun's age, and gestured to Jun. She then, along with the driver of the other car, approached the house.

This new officer took out a notebook and opened it, taking a pencil off his ear. "Okay, Aoi-san, I'm really sorry we have to do this, but it's just to make sure everyone has reason to believe you didn't… you know."

"I… I didn't kill Yurika!" Jun's eyes grew wide and he started hyperventilating again. He could never do such a thing to his Martian goddess. He loved her with his whole being, even when she didn't love him back.

"I know, I know. We just want people to know it too. So, when did you last see… Yurika, is her name?"

"Yes… Around ten this evening. I… I got a call for a job interview then, and I had to get down to the recording studio right away."

"A job interview, this late? Wait, you said recording studio. Never mind." He wrote this down on his little notebook. "Okay, she was your… fiancée? Did you leave angry at each other?"

"No. She had wished me good luck. We were both, very excited, and happy. Happy, dammit!" Jun covered his eyes with the heels of his hands and threaded his fingers in his hair. "I didn't kill her."

"I know, it's okay. Just… answer our questions so we can make sure we can get the right guy. Who was giving this job interview, and where was it?"

"… Kano Anzai and Umeko Johnson. It was at… the Animal Studio. I was there until about one this morning." Jun let his hands fall and his head bend down to stare at the ground.

"Okay. Thank you… Jun? Right? Now, I want to ask you some things about your fiancée. Did she… have any enemies?"

"No!" Jun shouted. But as he realized the truth, he sat down on the ground. The officer joined him. "Well… I wouldn't call him an enemy. They fought a lot, but he's my best friend!"

"His name, please?"

"…Tenkawa Akito. But, but… Yurika's old girlfriend, she had cheated on Yurika with HER old girlfriend… Erina Kinjo Won and Onikirimaru Kaguya. But there really shouldn't be anyone else."

"Thank you. I know it's hard." The male officer looked up as the female from before came back. She looked winded and smelled slightly of vomit. "Call for reinforcements. They aren't here, but it's another one of the Jumper murders. She was decapitated."

The male officer paled and reached for the radio at his belt. He spoke into it in an array of numbers and letters that Jun couldn't bear to attempt to decipher. The female officer laid a hand on his shoulder. "It's been a long, hard night for you. I know. I'm sorry. But I'm afraid you can't stay here for a while. Do you have anywhere else to go? If not, we can, you know, make arrangements."

For the first time all evening, it was clear what Jun was going to do. He held his hands together in hopes of stopping the shaking as a new set of tears pooled up in his eyes. "I have somewhere to go."

---

The ringing phone erupted Akito out of his rather odd dream where running coaches were pouring out of his legs and yelling at him for a broken phone. The phone bit, of course, he refuted with the sound of said ringing phone. "It's just fine," he mumbled, before realizing that that really was the phone ringing. He untangled himself from his still snoozing boyfriend's limbs and stretched. "Motherfucking Hikaru, answer the damn phone…" He then reached off to his right and picked up the receiver. "Moshi-moshi?" He rubbed his eyes and, in the blurred vision he had without aid, noticed that it was around one-thirty in the morning. He groaned loudly. Whoever was calling better have had a good reason.

"…Akito? Is that you?" The soft voice brought Akito into full alertness. There was no denying that voice. It was Jun. But he sounded so small and soft, he could have been right there, whispering from across the room.

"Junny? Wh-what the hell are you calling so late? What's wrong?" Akito sat up in bed, the blankets and sheet pooling at his waist. Gai still hadn't made a move, something Akito glared at him for now.

"Akito… I need you to come and get me." Well, that made no sense. Jun had a car. But as Akito heard a sob from the receiver, he realized that it wasn't a good time for Jun to be attempting to drive anywhere.

"Sure, okay. Where are you? What's happened, Junny? Are you okay?"

"No…" Another sob, and then the tears were audible in Jun's voice. "I'm not okay, Akito. I'm here, outside my house. Yurika… she… she…"

"She didn't. Don't tell me that bitch kicked you out, because I swear to Aqua–"

"She's dead, Akito!" Akito's words died in his mouth. What? Yurika was… dead?

"What?"

"She was murdered in our house, Akito!" Jun's voice cracked again and the sobs were more apparent, as opposed to just audible some of the time. "I came home and found her dead. Flamma, I need you to come and get me!"

"Okay. I'm gonna come and get you." Akito hung up the phone and turned the light on, which woke Gai up before flinging off the blankets and running to the closet, ripping down a pair of pants and the first shirt he could find, which was one of Gai's.

Gai sat up in bed and rubbed his eyes. "Ugh… what? What…" He looked at the clock. "What the fuck are you doing rushing around at fucking one-thirty in the morning?"

"I need to go get Junny. Now." Akito got dressed quickly, hopping about to pull on the pants.

"What? Why?"

As soon as Akito was fully dressed, or as fully dressed as he was going to get in the adrenaline rush he was experiencing, he turned to his boyfriend and answered, with a straight face. "Yurika is dead. Murdered."

Gai blinked quickly. "What…? How?"

"He didn't say, but I have to go." Akito left the room quickly. With a quick glance in Hikaru's dark room, he growled at how dumb he was. Hikaru wanted to be up early tomorrow to go visit the Tokyo Pentakami Church . Akito shook his head and, instead of heading for the stairs, he entered Izumi's room without knocking and turned on the light.

Izumi, startled, looked around quickly with narrowed eyes, until she saw Akito standing in her room. "Yes, I know it's one-thirty. I need you to come with me."

"What? Why? What's going on? Where're you going?" Izumi pulled the covers off her body, obviously sensing Akito's urgency.

" Tokyo . We need to pick Jun up."

Izumi stripped out of her nightclothes without a thought and pulled on the clothes she had planned to wear later that day. "All right. But what's going on? Did Yurika get sick of his puppy-dog mannerisms and kick him out, or what?"

"Yurika has been murdered."

Izumi stopped dressing for a moment, the turned to look over her shoulder. "Are you serious?"

"More than. I need you, Izumi. Jun needs you. You know how to deal with this a little better than I do." Akito pleaded with her. Akito may have been the closest to Jun as all of them, but Izumi was a close second, and with her experience in losing lovers to death, she was required.

"All right." She fastened her skirt onto her body and practically dragged Akito out of her room. "We need to get going now, then."

---

It had taken an hour of more police cars, yellow crime-scene tape, and being moved to different parts of the property before Jun saw the tell-tale black SUV pull up across the street. There was no room for it in front of his house, obviously. But as the front doors on both sides opened quickly and the first two people Jun had seen since he came home that he knew came out, Jun couldn't help but feel some degree of relief all over his shattered emotions.

With his door being closer to Jun's house, Akito was the first to reach him, running out of the vehicle and across the street. Akito wrapped his arms around Jun as tightly as he could, and the embrace was quickly matched. Relief overwhelmed Jun's senses and he felt a fiftieth round of tears burning in his eyes. "Akito…"

"I know. It's okay. Me and Izumi, we're gonna take you home, all right?" Izumi reached them then. Jun saw her and straightened slightly, feeling as though he didn't deserve to be distraught. But she wrapped her arms around the two of them, resting her head on Jun's.

Apparently they had been noticed, because the young man that interrogated Jun came over. "Excuse me, but this is a crime scene. No onlookers."

Izumi was the first to recover. "We're his friends. He called us to come and pick him up. We're going to take him to his previous residence." The acid in her voice was enough to melt through several floors, and its effect was not lost on the man. With his knees practically shaking, he took out his notebook.

"Okay, that's all right. We told him to do that. We just need your names, contact information and such. And, uh… That one over there wouldn't be Tenkawa Akito, would he? We'd like to ask him some questions."

"No problem. That is him, yes, and I am Maki Izumi. We live at Yamada Manor in Kawasaki . You can't miss it. And our phone numbers are all the same and listed in the phonebook. Either under my name, his name, Jun's name, Yamada Jiro, Kazamo Itsuki, Subaru Ryoko, or Amano Hikaru."

The officer hastened to write these names down. "All right. Could you ask Tenkawa-san…"

Izumi nodded, then tapped Akito on the shoulder. Once she had his attention, she whispered something in his ear. With narrowed eyes, Akito reluctantly let Izumi wrap her arm around Jun's shoulder and turned to the officer, pushing his glasses up. "Yeah?"

"Where were you between ten and around one?"

"Let's see… I went to bed at eleven after watching some TV… and I was sleeping after that. I was at home the whole time."

"Is there anyone that can confirm this?"

"My boyfriend, G –I mean, Yamada Jiro."

"You faltered."

"Yeah, his nickname is Gai, and I call him that all the time."

"Aoi-san stated that you weren't exactly on good terms with Misumaru-san?"

"Not really. I'm an ex of hers, you see, but we have recently decided that fighting was useless, and we just figured tolerating each other's presence was fine. Besides, whether she called me childish or not, I wouldn't have killed her. Ever. I knew her when I was little, for Aqua's sake!"

"All right. Just trying to narrow down the suspects. You understand, right? Just trying to do my job."

"I'm sorry. I… It just pisses me off that someone would do such a thing. Kill Yurika…" Akito looked away, then over his shoulder. Izumi kissed Jun at his temple. Akito looked back to the cop. "Can we go now? I'm sure you guys know where we're going."

"Right. All right. I think we've gotten all we need from you guys, so you're free to go." He fumbled in his pocket, and pulled out a card, handing it to Akito. "If you think of anything else, or if he does, or anything, call us. We'll appreciate it."

"We will." Akito then turned to Izumi and Jun. "You okay, Junny?"

"No."

Izumi nodded. "Which one of use would you rather sit with on the way home, Junny?"

"…Akito." Izumi nodded. It was obvious she wasn't offended at all. She took her arm off of Jun's shoulders so Akito could place his there. Then she headed for the driver's seat of the car that she had just been driving. Jun looked at the house once more, over his shoulder. He took several breaths before glancing back at Akito. Akito smiled softly at him, squeezing his shoulders as they started across the street. Jun rested his head on Akito's shoulder and closed his eyes, letting his best friend lead him.

Once they were both in the back seat and Izumi was heading back to Kawasaki , Akito allowed himself to think. The rush and urge to get Jun was over now that Jun was with them, his head still resting on his shoulder. Akito patted the dark blue tresses softly. Someone had killed Yurika. Yurika was dead. It was such an odd thing to hear, or say. But it was true. No denying this one. Jun's head was practically on fire, it was hot. Akito allowed some of his own power to cool down the overheating man. Jun didn't ever get this upset. Enough to burn things, yes, but the only other time he was this upset was when he was pissed off at Magus-Akatsuki for hurting Yurika. That had resulted in Akatsuki's death. But Jun had been angry then. Uncontrollably so. Now… even if Akito was extremely pissed off at whoever decided it was a good idea to off his childhood friend and ex-girlfriend, Jun wasn't. Jun was in an all time state of low.

And there was the little problem of who actually did it. Akito gritted his teeth together as he continued to run his fingers through Jun's hair. Whoever did it was going to pay, miserably.

---

"Good morning, I'm Anastasia Ball."

"And I'm Andy Suarez. In this morning's top story, a new addition to the string of brutal murders of prominent societal figureheads was killed late last night in Tokyo , giving forensic psychologists something to scratch their heads over."

"Around midnight this morning, Misumaru Yurika, former captain of the ND-001 Nadesico, was killed in her home by what authorities believe are the same murderers that killed Kusakabe Haruki, Aqua Crimson, and Mythos Entrada. Drew Evans, who has been following this story, joins us live at the scene. Drew?"

"Thank you Anastasia. Behind me is the home of the late Misumaru Yurika and her fiancé Aoi Jun. As you can see, forensic investigators are still looking into any clue that could possibly point in the right direction of who has been behind these awful murders. Due to the graphic nature of the following tape, parents and squeamish viewers are advised to take discretion."

"It was like something from a horror movie. Most of the room was untouched, but the bed was a complete wreck and covered in blood. And the ceiling fan!"

"Lieutenant Paulette Luella James was the first on the scene."

"Honestly, I don't know what they did with those other guys, but you really need to sit down and think when you see someone's head hanging from a ceiling fan."

"That was how Misumaru was found early this morning. Her decapitated body was found by her fiancé, Aoi Jun, who was returning from an interview late last night. He was unable for comment, but officers at the scene say that he was in a state of utter shock and grief over the loss of his to-be wife."

"But at this point, the question is who did this. The fact that there was absolutely no sign of forceful entry and the brutality of this killing is why it is being grouped with the other three. Anastasia."

"Drew, I think all our viewers are wondering if the police have any leads at all, whatsoever."

"They do have quite a few leads to investigate, but it is proving difficult. With the information that it was a Jumper that came in and killed Misumaru, and the fact that that Jumper was, most obviously, a Martian, all three Martians left, Doctor Inez Fressange, Onikirimaru Kaguya, and Tenkawa Akito are all still considered suspects for this crime."

"Uh, Drew, most people were under the impression that it was Misumaru that was aiding in the other killings, due to the fact that her magical and Jump signature were present at all scenes. How does this change the authorities' focus?"

"Obviously, this wasn't a suicide, so the killer is most definitely not Misumaru Yurika. There is no word if an apology will be issued to her father, Admiral Misumaru Kouichiro, from Ninlan at this time. However, signature readers are being called in to identify any magical or Jump signatures within the room or anywhere else in the house for that matter."

"All right, thank you Drew."

"And the most likely reason that an apology hasn't been issued from Ninlan is the fact that both the Emperor and Empress of the planet are on Earth, and in Japan , no less. They have come early for the nation's inauguration to the System Alliance, as they have been bid permission to join due to their wise choices regarding a rise for independence within their own nation. Cordell Strong has the story."

---

Jun slowly opened his eyes to a rather bright room. That's weird. Jun had been under the impression that they had put a blanket up to block off most of the light so they could sleep longer. Oh, it must've fallen down.

Instead of getting up, Jun stared at the ceiling. It was… a lot higher than he remembered it. Where was the ceiling fan? And that post… where were the poles those posts held up? The red curtain surrounding their bed? Where was all of it? Jun just mentally shrugged and stretched his arms out to the sides, feeling for Yurika.

All he found was cold sheets. Oh, of course. Yurika had Jump Tests on Sundays. That's where she was. Jun rolled to his left so he could check out the clock to see what time it was. But there was no table on that side. Only a rather large plant. That's funny. Jun didn't remember them having a large plant over there. Just a nightstand and a standing lamp.

Click. Everything from the night before flooded into his brain. The phone call, the interview, saying goodbye to Yurika for the last time, coming home to find her head strung up on the ceiling fan, calling the police, calling Akito, coming home, going straight to bed to worry about nightmares as the sight of his lovely Yurika decapitated and her chest a gory mess stayed in his thoughts. Everything came back to Jun like an incoming train. He rolled back to his back and closed his eyes, resting his left hand on his forehead. He let out a single sob as his mouth contorted into a sad grin and he tried to cry. All of this, he needed to release it so much. He couldn't bear to hold in all this pain and suffering. His Yurika was dead. Never to live again. He would never hear her voice or see her smile ever, ever, ever again. It was over. His time with her was over before it had even truly begun.

He hadn't even realized how hot it had become in his room until he felt his hand slide off his head from the sweat that had formed between the two surfaces of skin. Jun took a deep breath and tried to control himself, flinging the sheets and blanket off himself and shoving his feet into his slippers. Wiping the sweat off his neck, he tried very, very hard to get a hold of his magic again. He didn't want to burn down the whole guest house.

Or did he? It would have made him so relaxed to do so. To just let go, and let his magic do the talking. He wanted a release, and this was so easy to do. He had it all built up inside anyway. He just needed to let the floodgates down, and away it would go. Simple as that.

But he couldn't do that. It would be so easy. But… he couldn't. This was all he had now. He didn't have Yurika. He didn't have his house. He didn't even have his clothes. He was still dressed in the same thing he wore to the interview. He pulled off his band shirt, which was quickly becoming rather sweaty itself. But Jun felt a breeze at his back, a breeze that he knew well. He looked over his shoulder tentatively, then turned. Hikaru stood at the top of the stairs leading into the room, her hands fisted at her hips and a frown distorting her face. She shook her head slowly before holding her arms out to him. "Come here, darling."

Jun didn't need to be told twice. He walked straight over to the redhead and rested his forehead on her shoulder. He really had to bend down to do so though, with her being so short. She wrapped her arms around his bare torso and squeezed him tightly, patting him on the back. "There, there, Junny. Hey, you know what?" She pulled him away so she could look into his face and give him an award-winning smile, one everyone in the house knew meant she was really sad. "We got some clothes for you downstairs! Of course, they're Akito's, so they probably smell a little funny, but no harm done, right?"

Jun, despite feeling really, really bad, gave her a very small smile in return. "Right."

Hikaru grinned and took his hand, leading him down his own stairs to where the TV was already on, but showing some rather dumb looking cartoons, not the news or anything like that. Some jeans and a t-shirt were laid out on the couch, which were obviously the clothes Hikaru had been speaking about. All the windows were uncovered and the room was very sunny and bright. Jun couldn't tell if this was all Hikaru's doing, a purposeful scene, or something that was just coincidental. Jun was even beginning to feel a little better as he picked up the shirt and stared at it for a moment before pulling it over his head.

But almost as soon as he got the shirt over his head, he felt the calming feel of the room have a small hint of anger in it. It was only then that he noticed that the breeze that was so perfectly Hikaru that he felt earlier was still about, probably the reason why he was feeling a little better. But he got his head through the neck hole of the shirt to see Hikaru stomping over to the door to the deck, where Akito stood glaring at Hikaru.

'What the hell?' That didn't seem to make much sense. Jun listened the best he could to Hikaru and Akito. Anything to get his mind of the images that were in his mind. Hikaru's attempts to keep things calm and collected weren't going to go well for the next few minutes, he could tell.

"I thought we had Gai trying to keep you in bed or in the parlor or something!"

"Hikaru, I need to be in here, okay?! I'm Junny's best friend and for Aqua's sake, how are you so sure you could stop him from burning down the whole guest house? It's already hotter than hell in here!"

"I'm working on fixing that. Just because you're ice doesn't mean that you're the only one that can prevent such a thing."

"Then let Izumi in here or something! I know she can counter it too, and she'll probably be a better help than you are!"

"Keep your fucking voice down, Tenkawa. In case you couldn't tell, Izumi has her own little crisis to deal with right now. I know why you're in here. We are ALL hurting 'cause of this, okay? And… I know you're looking for something to make you feel like you're doing something. You and Junny were the closest to Yurika, even if I did share a room and a bathroom with her for a long time. But seeing you and talking to you ISN'T going to help Junny. It's going to keep him focused on it. We don't want him to be hurting now. Not until he gets a little more used to the idea. How the fuck do you think I was able to help Izumi from being suicidal after Ken died? Some of us may have been closer to the situation than others, and some of us may have been closer to Yurika, but no more than Junny. Junny needs someone to help him through the worst of it, not to make it hurt more because that same person is hurting as well."

"So you're saying you don't care about the fact that Yurika is fucking DEAD?"

"No, I'm not saying that at all. I'm saying that I can put that away until it's necessary. Right now, I can keep Jun in a good place, keep his mind off the idea itself until he can get used to the sudden change in his life, and if something goes wrong, we both know I'm strong enough to stop him from even attempting a mass bonfire."

Jun couldn't hear anymore, but it was only a few seconds later that the cold feeling behind him left, and the slight anger in the air dissipated into a lazy calm that sedated him slightly. Hikaru joined him back on the couch. "You need to change your pants, Junny."

"I can't. His pants are too small."

"Hmm. Maybe we can get Gai to bring us some of his pants, okay? They may be a bit longer, but I'm pretty sure Gai has a bigger waist than Akito." Hikaru smiled again, and Jun couldn't help but mirror it. He laid his head in Hikaru's lap. Hikaru didn't seem surprised at all. In fact, she ran her hands through his hair softly, brushing it out.

"Are you really trying to make me forget?"

The hands in his hair paused, but continued their work on his somewhat dirty blue locks. "No. I'm trying to keep you from forgetting. Hopefully, it'll work better than with Izumi. You see, she depends on having someone in her life to stay happy. I don't want you to be like that. I want you to get used to the routine of living everyday, even if it's without her, without you having to see what you saw every time you close your eyes. Does that make sense?"

Jun nodded. "A little. Enough, that is." He fell silent again and watched a kid onscreen throw a car. "So… you know what it looked like?"

"They said on TV."

"Oh. What else did they say?"

"They have a couple leads, but it's just them following through with investigating all the Martians again. Of course, they called here a few times to check into Akito's alibi, but they're just going to keep a light surveillance around here. As upset as Akito is about the whole thing, nobody really believes he did it. So, they called in the best of the best to check the signatures at the house."

"The best of the best?"

"They said their standard signature readers couldn't interpret all of them, since there were so many spots. They had to call in a master. Lucky for them that one is visiting right now."

---

It was such horrible news to wake up to, especially after just arriving in Tokyo for a week before the inauguration ceremony. Rika-chan was murdered in her home. Rika-chan, dead. One of the people she had been planning on surprising with a visit. Minato already knew they would be in town. So that was why Minato had been the first person Megumi contacted once she heard the news that morning.

"Hi, Meg."

"Oh Gods, Minato, are you watching the news?"

"Unfortunately."

"Why? What did Yurika ever do to deserve this, Minato!?"

"She didn't. That's what's so horrible about it."

"You're so calm, Minato… How? I'm going to burst into tears any moment now. How can she be dead?"

"I'm not calm. I'm trying not to freak out."

"Who are you talking to, Minato?"

"Look, Meg… I gotta go. Yukina… she doesn't know yet."

"Gods above. I'm going to come over as soon as I can."

But of course, that didn't happen. No sooner than Megumi got off the communicator to Minato than she received a telephone call from Tokyo 's Finest, stating that they were absolutely stumped when it came to the sheer complexity of the signatures at the crime scene. They were sympathetic that Yurika was one of Megumi's best friends, but they mentioned that it might help if she came to help out.

And, of course, Megumi's sense of duty had overridden her senses and emotions. This is how she had found herself, along with a rather grumpy Rumiko, standing in front of the house she had been planning on storming that same day, only with Minato instead of Rumiko in tow and with a much hollower of a purpose, rather than supporting the efforts to find Yurika's killer.

"I honestly don't know what to think anymore. Crimson is killed and everyone's eyes go to Ninlan. Mythos is killed and my, along with many others', eyes turn to Yurika. Now, Yurika is dead… Is the next suspect going to be condemned to death?"

"I don't know." Megumi was regretting her agreeing to this. It was true; she was one of the few master readers when it came to signatures. She had excelled in the field so much that it just made sense that, with her in town, Tokyo would beg her to come in when their own readers couldn't decipher them. But did she really want to do this? The scene of her former captain Yurika's DEATH? Megumi took a long breath and looked to her husband. He glanced back at her and pushed some of his escaping hair behind his ear. With raised eyebrows and a small frown along with a glance at the house, Megumi knew he was asking her the same question she was asking herself. She nodded slowly. "Let's go."

Walking into what was, apparently, Yurika and Jun's house was not unlike walking into a stranger's house. Megumi had never seen the place before this, and she was certain that if Jun decided to come back and live here (unlikely), she probably wouldn't visit. The décor was both subdued and crazy, the perfect depiction of the obvious excitement and commitment that they shared. Just looking at the furnishings made Megumi want to weep. It was obvious that they had big dreams, but they were also so in love. Jun deserved Yurika, and Yurika finally wanted him. Not once did Megumi see so much good in some of the gossip she had been hearing from Minato. They could have had such a lovely future together and spawned so many little Yurikas and Juns to populate Earth. But… it wasn't meant to be. Yurika was gone. It may not have hit Megumi yet that she would never see her friend again, but it certainly was run home that already one person's life was ruined by this, one still among the living.

"I don't know about you, but maybe we should start where we know the killers were. It's no point looking into all these spots if we don't know what we're looking for when we search for the Teleportation spot." Megumi was jarred from her thoughts as Rumiko glanced about the living room and dining room areas. Megumi quickly closed her eyes and called up the feeling of the old spell Rumiko had cast on her eyes to see signatures. The tingly, asleep prickling upon her eyelids again, she reopened them, and gasped. So THAT was why they needed a master reader. The whole house was practically swimming in silvers and reds. Yurika and Jun must have been pretty open with each other for their emotions to imprint themselves so onto their surroundings. Either that, or they were shooting their magic right and left, but Megumi doubted that, as there were very few singe marks on their belongings. Yurika had a habit of getting into other people's heads to talk to them or trying to hear what they were thinking. Yurika barely ever used her magic to control anyone, but she had a tendency to use it pretty much all the time at a lesser degree.

But Rumiko had a point. They could be checking all these signatures all day, and the killers may have never come through there in the first place. There wouldn't be a way to know until they could differentiate between whoever had intruded, and those who had resided here. Megumi nodded, pointing down the hall "Bedroom, right?"

"Right. End of the hall, they said." Megumi nodded and followed Rumiko down the hall. Even though it wasn't lit along the hall, it practically glowed from all the always moving silvers and reds. Certainly such signature concentration in one place couldn't be healthy.

"Hey, Rumi? What sort of thing could come out of so many imprints and signatures? This doesn't look like a very good thing, as much as there is."

"I'm not entirely sure, but I think that, since magic is working with Bose and retrospect particles, we could very possibly be standing in one big Teleportation Field right now."

"I was afraid you'd say that."

"I didn't want to, you know. But it would explain how they got in here. We should probably mention it."

"It IS the last piece that connects this one to all the others."

"Exactly." Rumiko stopped in front of the bedroom door. Megumi couldn't tell, but as tense as his shoulders got, she had the impression that he really, really did not want to do this. But he simply rolled and stretched them before turning back to Megumi. Megumi was glad he was still willing to go through with it. He didn't bring paperwork to apologize to Yurika's father as the Emperor of Ninlan, but maybe continuing help in the investigation of this string of serial murders would show more than the trip to Sasebo they were planning once they were done here. "You ready? I don't know how bright it's going to be in here."

"I'm ready even if it's like staring into the sun, Rumi." Rumiko nodded and opened the door, sighing. He held it open for her to go in. Rumiko was a mage, yes, but Megumi had a lot more practice when it came to signatures, especially when Rumiko went down on account of Magus, way back… a year ago? A mere year ago? It had to be more. Megumi stepped into the room, which was brightly lit from sunlight and the ceiling fan light, but also from signatures that were even more concentrated than the ones in the front rooms and the hallway. Quite a bit more red than Megumi expected at all. It was enough so that the room was a few degrees hotter than it should have been, even with it being the beginning of July. But it was mostly drowned out by silver, silver, silver.

Megumi narrowed her eyes to lower the intensity of the glow, and actually took a good look at the scene. Particularly at the bed, where they had said Yurika was when she died. Megumi totally ignored the magical residue as her blue eyes focused directly on the bed. The sheets and covers where red, but they were some patches, mostly on the farther side, that were much darker than the rest. The headboard was absolutely bathed in dark red blood, so much that Megumi was certain that she was not just imagining the smell even while standing at the door. 'That was where she was killed… and that's where they cut off her head.' Her eyes trailed away from the farther side and to the closer end. Another large dark patch. 'And that was where her head was hung for all to see.'

Megumi gagged, and she felt arms around her waist in an instant. Megumi could feel his arms trembling, or was that her stomach? Her eyes blurred and quickly came back into focus as the tears overflowed just as quickly as they had filled her eyes. There was no denying it now. None whatsoever. Yurika was dead. Killed. Murdered in her very own home. A place where she was supposed to feel safe. She was never coming back. Her body was at the coroner's, her spirit, only the Gods knew where. She was dead. Rumiko pressed his chest against her back. She could feel the hair that had come loose from his makeshift ponytail against her neck, his breath on her shoulder. She could feel the rumbling in his chest as he began to speak softly to her. "Megan, I'm so sorry. We never should have come here. I'm so sorry."

Suddenly, Megumi knew exactly where Rumiko had been coming from when Mythos had died. Rumiko had gone out for blood and wouldn't let even the Lennon issue stand in his way. Mythos had married them. Mythos was the former Emperor. Mythos had been one of Rumiko's most trusted advisors, and one of his closest friends. And now the tables were turned. Megumi quickly wiped her cheeks and cleared her throat. "No. We have to do this. We owe it to her." Her voice was hoarse, as if she had been screaming. Had she been? She pried Rumiko's arms from her waist and turned to face him. She was certain, on account of his paled, strangled visage, that she seemed a bit too intense for his tastes. She tended to do that when it was time for Rumiko to face facts. He nodded slowly, conceding.

The two of them got to work right away, Rumiko checking all the reds to narrow it down some while Megumi started with the different patches of silver she didn't ever seem to run out of.

---

The morning had seemed to start out fairly well. It was a bit windy out, and there were a few clouds in the blue sky, but it was a fairly nice day in Peaceland when Ruri had awakened Omoikane before dressing so she could read the news with him. After finding no email in her box, and nothing very exciting in regards to computers, and after reading her daily comics, Ruri read the headlines. Suddenly, the day seemed much darker, as if all the clouds in the world had come into the formerly-Danish sky, even though it was still as clear as ever.

The news that Yurika had been killed during the night was important. Very important. Particularly to Ruri. This was why Omoikane had fully expected Ruri to be sobbing and crying after he read it as well. But… he was confused. She simply pulled out of him, took a deep breath, and stood, stripping out of her pajama shirt and digging in her closet as if it were any other day. As if they hadn't just read that their former captain was dead. Omoikane kept quiet though. Ruri was sometimes a mystery, even to him, as to what she was feeling. One could only trust what she expressed. But did she really express apathy towards this tragedy? Disinterest?

Oh no. She was in fact, very interested. The dress she had chosen for the day told that loud and clear. Chinese-style, silk, short-sleeved, and reaching to her feet with a slit that exposed much of her right leg, it was almost completely black, with the trim, clasp, and embroidered flowers in a striking white. Pentakami mourning colors for someone like her. As she dressed, Omoikane felt the unnerving desire to say something. Anything. Blinking behind the thick frames of his color-mixing glasses, he bit his lip and held out his right hand, reaching out for his keeper. But he only had the chance to take a single step towards her when there was an abrupt knocking on the door. "Your Highness? Are you abed?"

Omoikane glanced back at Ruri, frowning and trying to look as sympathetic as possible. She merely sighed and clasped her shoes. "Tell Alfred to go away, Omoikane."

The first words she had spoken since reading about Yurika, and Omoikane was given an order. Quite disconcerting. But Omoikane was not one to vex his master. Almost against his will, he found himself marching to the door that lead out of Ruri's bedroom and opening the door enough so that he could block all vision into the room with his body. He was fairly sure he could see a small twitch in Alfred's cheek. Omoikane didn't even question as to what that meant. Alfred seemed completely obsessed with the image that the children projected. He wasn't cruel like Gwynth could be, but he did tend to have his priorities a bit out of order. Omoikane almost expected him to say something about his pajamas and disheveled hair, or about how late Ruri had slept (though it was only seven in the morning) when the stiff lip actually frowned. He lowered his voice, "Is Her Highness awake?"

"Yes."

"I see. I'm afraid… I'm afraid there is some bad news."

"She already knows." It was so easy to not have any inflection. No one expected him to be sad about Yurika's death, or even angry about it. So he didn't feel guilty about only being concerned about Ruri, rather than be sad about Yurika's murder.

"I see." Alfred seemed to frown deeper, her wrinkles becoming more prominent on his face. He tilted his head to see above Omoikane's. "Your Highness? Are you all right?"

"Ruri-sama wants you to go away."

He seemed surprised to hear such words from the robot in front of him, but he didn't seem like it long. "All right, then. I will be up to announce when breakfast is ready. But Her Highness would not be expected if she does not wish to join. His Majesty understands that Her Highness aches for her friend and former captain." With a small nod of the head, the old "nanny" of sort continued down the hall.

Omoikane bit his lip as he closed the door, looking back at Ruri. She simply sat on her bed, her hands clasping in her lap, her back facing the door. Omoikane didn't feel her in his head at all. So why was she so insistent that Alfred leave if she didn't want to even talk to Omoikane? He didn't need to connect to her to know that she was probably very distraught. Omoikane knew how important Yurika was to her. But Ruri… Ruri had grown out of agonizing silences and hiding her feelings behind general annoyance and impatience. This wasn't like her now.

Omoikane walked back to her bed and knelt beside her on the floor. He tilted his head to look up at her as she tied her hair up in black ribbons, his glasses falling down his nose a bit so that Ruri seemed to be in a somewhat lavender haze as he saw over the thick black frames. Once she finished tying up her hair in her usual ponytails, Omoikane attempted to dare it. He rested his hands on hers, placed back into her lap, and prodded Ruri's security wall. 'Open, open, open, please,' he chanted, but it never happened. Ruri separated their physical connection. Omoikane was brought back into the physical world quickly.

Ruri frowned and closed her eyes, pointing behind her at the door. "Tell him to go away too."

Omoikane looked past her to realize that another person was knocking on the door. "'Neechan! Come on, 'Neechan, I know you're awake!" Omoikane frowned deeply and found himself at his feet and at the door before he ever realized that he had been walking in that direction. He opened the door for the second time that morning to see Ariko pounding on the door, still dressed in his own pajamas and robe. He looked somehow both relieved and worried that Omoikane had answered the door. Of course, Omoikane did usually answer the door to screen out unwanted visitors, but that wasn't the point. "Omoikane, is 'Neechan all right? I know she knows."

"Who ELSE did Alfred tell?" asked Omoikane, feeling a bit of frustration in his normally mechanically-flat, childish voice.

Ariko appeared a bit taken aback by Omoikane's outburst. "Just me, I think. Since we actually knew her and all. I mean… I know 'Neechan knew her better than I ever did… she always just Kanchou for me, so it isn't as personal as it is for her…" Ariko didn't appear to know what he was saying.

So Omoikane said it for him. "Ruri's taken out her mourning." Ariko looked both a little shocked and mostly in horror. "I'm going to talk to her. Besides, she wants you to go away. She doesn't want to be disturbed." Ariko looked a bit like a fish, and under any other circumstances, Omoikane would have giggled at the comparison.

But the prince frowned and nodded. "Okay. Just… let her know I'm here for her. And, uh… I'll be calling Yukina later. Minato might have more details, if she wants them."

'Gods, no.'

"No." Ariko nodded and turned back towards his room, walking down the hall without saying a word more to Omoikane. Omoikane let out a sigh of relief and shut the door again. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you didn't want to talk to your family at all."

Ruri could be absolutely frightening at times. In previous years, this would have been when she cracked one of her enigmatic smiles that soon became something people depended on in awkward moments. Now, there was no soft, mysterious smile. Just a small snort of a humorless laugh and a pale finger lifted up and pressed it to her nose. Right on the button. This gesture of indicating that Omoikane's guess was right, while apparently harmless, scared Omoikane greatly. Such a simple sign, yet used in such a complex time to something that was anything but childish, something even morbid. Denying familial support when she could use it the most.

Omoikane bit his lip and, in movements that were far, far too smooth for his normal, not terrified state of mind, walked back to his position by the bed, knelt by the side of the bed in a position of submission. Only now, his head was bent down to look at his synthetic hands in his lap. He looked up quickly to Ruri, feeling a bit confused at her choices that morning. "Why?"

He didn't actually receive an answer. Instead, Ruri held out a hand to him, the one closest to him. Omoikane wasn't dumb. He knew what that meant. He slowly slid his hand into hers and let down all his barriers for Ruri. It took less than a second, but it seemed so slow, Ruri entering him. Omoikane wondered, absent-mindedly, if the sated feeling he tended to have in this state was anything like human sex. They used the same terminology, after all.

This thought train was derailed as familiar images flooded Omoikane's mind's eye. All those other children in La Homaro Instituto dreaming of their parents as Ruri dreams of splashing. Ruri never really able to talk to them of anything. Ruri's adoptive parents, the Hoshinos. Nergal had assigned her that family. It was loveless, but not cold. They had trained her to be the best, the very best, even though there wasn't any like her previously. Even when Mr. Bros and Mr. Hory had shown up on the doorstep with compensation money to buy back the custody papers so Ruri would be Nergal's property. And none of this ever fazed Ruri. It was business as usual. Her calm, nearly stoic voice cut through the dreamlike images that Omoikane knew so well, that he almost yawned for effect. "I never used to be close to people."

"I do believe that's quite the understatement, Ruri-sama."

A hum. More memories overwhelmed Omoikane's amusement at the short statement. Many from La Homaro Instituto, many, many more from the Nadesico. It took less than a second for Omoikane to know what was going to happen, and he braced himself. "BAKA!" All the different Ruris in all the different memories said together, forming a loud shout that would never have actually been emitted by the girl in question. Ruri only grumbled it under her breath or said it plainly. She never shouted at anyone. "Before… I never really considered people as anything but idiots."

Yurika. Akito. Hikaru. Izumi. Ryoko. Megumi. Minato. Mr. Bros. Mr. Hory. Uribatake. Gai. Itsuki. Akatsuki. Erina. Jun. Miss Fressange. "And… I even thought that the Nadesico's crew was that as well. They did fit the bill, of course. But over time, I came to love them all. Those my age," Ariko, Yukina, "and those… much older." Uribatake. Minato. Akito. Hikaru. Yurika. It froze on Yurika for a minute and Omoikane felt his throat shift as he involuntarily swallowed. Ruri had swallowed and the action moved to him. Not a large difference from normal. Omoikane felt his face grow hot, as if the interface beneath the rubbery skin was overheating. His eyes felt a little heavy as well, and his nose seemed to feel full. Omoikane knew this feeling: Ruri was on the brink of tears. He struggled to pull her out of him, but she held on tightly, not letting him go.

Instead, the memories changed into that one day in Peaceland after another fight with Rachiku. Ruri stuck her head out of her door. "Yurika is more of a mother than she ever will be!"

"I truly believed that when I said it. I still believe so, but that isn't surprising. My biological mother shuns me for what I am, for what makes me great. Yurika… she somehow was a key factor in my opening up. She showed me and everyone else…"

Yurika squealing over Akito, sobbing because Megumi was mean, truly happy to be doing her job, considering sacrificing her life to end the war. Omoikane felt his resolve slowly fade. This woman was dead. This absolutely beautiful, honest, true woman that was their captain was no more. Someone stabbed her three times in the chest and chopped off her head. All those smiles and tears were the only ones Yurika would ever shed again. Living on… only in memories. She would inspire no more of those, either. "She showed us all… that it was perfectly all right to show your emotions on your sleeve. That you could really win out if you went with your heart, rather than your head. But…"

All images disappeared, with only Ruri standing in the bright white light. Omoikane squinted into the blinding light, and, feeling a bit dumb for not doing so earlier, darkened it a bit, turning the white to light blue. Ruri watched the white be covered by the slight shade, and nodded. This was his meeting her inhabitance of his mind and body. That was her consent for him to enter her as well, intertwining them on a whole different level than any married couple in the real world could ever hope to achieve. This was digital and mental, emotional and total, until the lines between Ruri and Omoikane blurred so much that it was hard to tell where on ended and the other began, or which body they were in. And yet, they were connected in the physical world only by held hands.

Surrounded by the muggy, thick feeling of Ruri's consciousness, Omoikane sighed. He was just as much in her as she was in him. The feeling supported him from falling, but also filled everything on his insides. It was like drowning, only without the painful oxygen-deprived feeling humans felt when they experienced the event. Now he would be able to ask her anything and know, rather than be met with long silences. His first question was easy. "How do you feel about Kanchou's death?"

The answer, at first, was completely incomprehensible. Since he could feel and hear each and every thought Ruri had, it was as if she was duplicated a million times, and each duplicate was talking at once, all trying to be heard over the others. Unhappiness. Horribleness. Loss. Apathy. Fright. Paranoia. Pensiveness. Despondency. Hopeless. Like I'll never smile again. Like I've lost everything. Like I will never cry again. Like my life is over.

Finally, they all stopped chattering and one solid statement was made, louder than all the others, because it was truly Ruri's organization of all these thoughts at once. "As if Yurika took any happiness I had and ever could have to her grave." Omoikane nodded. This was probably the best way to say all that her head had screamed at them both. He didn't have the chance to say his next thought. Unlike Ruri, his thoughts weren't so scattered before he said them. He wasn't human, and his thought processes were much, much more straightforward. He wasn't even sure if he should bother asking this question, he felt it so redundant, when the voices representing Ruri's thoughts came back, clucking and squabbling about their own answers, as if fighting to make it into the final answer. Love. Respect. Adoration. Covetousness. Friendship. Because she was above us. Because she was everything we ever wanted to be. Because she was normal. Because she was kind. Because she saw past the exterior. Because she loved us for us. Because she followed her heart. Because she followed what she believed in. Because she was never anything more than herself.

Silence. Then the loud voice of the true Ruri. "Because Yurika was the one I looked up to. There is no denying, Omoikane, that I am sad. In all honesty… I don't know what I'm supposed to do with her being dead." My idol. My mentor. The one person I loved more than my family. The one person who would have taken me in at my mere request. Our mere request.

What now? What's left? What can we do? "I don't see many options left, Omoikane." Do what you know. Do what feels right. Feels better. Established. Worked before. Do it again. "I'm afraid I must go back to the way I was before." Cold. Heartless. Sarcastic. Bitch. Stoic. Emotionless. Flat. Honto, baka baka.

Omoikane pulled out of Ruri before she could even formulate that into a plain thought, ripping his physical hand away from Ruri's, severing their connection. Normally, Ruri would still be able to enter him, but the shock of the sudden separation forced her out. He stood, his legs shaking a bit as the feeling of being in the real world surprised him. Following through with her plans, there was no change to Ruri's face. Her mouth was still a firm line and her eyelids were in a rather normal position: not squinting in confusion or widened in shock. Though it was hard to miss the twin trails of wetness down her cheeks where that feeling of crying had disappeared. It had disappeared because it had dissipated with those two tears. But it wasn't enough to stop Omoikane from speaking out.

"I absolutely object, Ruri-sama!" No reaction. She must have expected this reaction. "You've come so far in being honest with your feelings and dealing with them up front and now you're going to revert back to the way you were before? That's completely backwards, Ruri-sama! That… sincerity you gained while on the Nadesico… that was NOT you regressing into something childish. That was how you were maturing, Ruri! Becoming more of an adult because you didn't just push your emotions away, because you dealt with them. No… you going back to that is regression. I won't have it!"

"The bonds I've made with people may have helped in my emotional growth, but how can you call this," she patted her chest, "this sadness I feel something good? I don't care. If being friends with people and loving them is going to be answered with them being ripped from me, I'm better off pushing them away."

"Kanchou would never have wanted you to go back into your shell, Ruri-sama. Certainly not because she was killed."

Ah, there was that old emotion. Her silver eyebrows twitched, and her right eye squinted harshly. That line of a mouth bent into a frown. Then her left eye narrowed to match the other. "And just what would you know about Yurika?"

"Obviously more than you!" he shouted, clenching his fists and holding his arms down, frowning deeply. Omoikane couldn't show emotion as well as Ruri could, so he had to make do with what he had. "How could you possibly think that going back to being a heartless, emotionless shell of a person is the will of someone that did nothing but love you? And Kanchou loved you, Ruri! And she wasn't alone. What about those left living, Ruri-sama? What about those that still care for you and are still among the living? Are you going to punish them by not being as big as you really are, by retreating back to how you were when you were little?" Omoikane shook his head quickly and walked to the other side of the bed. He sat down on it, his feet above the floor as he rested his elbows on his knees, propping his head up in his hands.

There was only a short moment of silence before Ruri spoke again. It was a thick, tense pause, particularly because of how much Ruri and Omoikane knew each other. But even Omoikane was surprised by her answer. "Omoikane, you are not a living thing. You are a robot."

Omoikane was not physically equipped to show much emotion. So only his leap from the other side of the bed to his feet properly expressed his outrage. Ruri's statement was brushing him off, making him no longer matter. Omoikane didn't mind that. What he did mind was that it wasn't just him that was being brushed off. In that single sentence, for him, about him, she had basically said that everyone else didn't matter. "I didn't just mean me, Ruri!" he shouted, obviously surprising Ruri. Despite her vow to not show emotion, the flutter of her eyelids and the widening of her eyes, not to mention that slight jarred motion she made, gave it away as if she hadn't just said she wouldn't do so. And while it didn't calm Omoikane to see her break her own decision, it did put him in a more articulate state of mind, one not plagued by him own emotions. "All those people you named earlier, all those you're close to… Uribatake-san, Tenkawa-san, Amano-san, Haruka-san, Ariko, Yukina, Doctor Fressange, and everyone else… They all love you too! How can you be so cruel as to push all of them away, especially at a time when all of you need to band together? When you need each other the most? You still have all of them, and you want to throw them away just because one was taken from you? I won't stand for it, Ruri-sama. If this is what Kanchou's death is going to do to you, I will hunt down the killer's myself! I've watched you grow and change for the better too much over all these years to let you revert back to what you were before. I won't have it!"

"Oh? And what makes you think that you have a say in what direction I take my life or state of mind?"

"Only the fact that you have been my master for almost ten years now, Ruri! What you do affects me directly, whether you want to accept that or not."

"It doesn't matter anyway. You're just a robot, a computer program implemented into a body built by Uribatake-san. You don't feel things the same way that humans do."

If Omoikane was capable, he would have burst into tears. "Just because… just because I can't show it as easily, doesn't mean that I don't feel things. I can feel anger. I can feel sadness. I can and do feel pain, Ruri! I feel! It doesn't matter if I was made or born. I feel pain every time you push me away. I feel sad about Kanchou being murdered. I also feel love for you and all you ever do is make me jump through hoops for even the slightest possible chance that you will ever even look at me –"

Omoikane's tirade was cut short by one thing he never actually expected to ever happen, let alone during an argument. Of course, he never expected him and Ruri to have an argument, but that was beside the point now. The point was that Ruri was kissing him, one thing that Omoikane had never thought would happen at all, but he secretly fantasized about, once or twice.

It was a simple kiss, her lips on his synthetic ones, but for two people could be fully connect by just holding hands, it was above and beyond what Omoikane had ever imagined. She gave him every single sense she felt in that kiss: his rubbery lips, the slight scent of plastic, the somewhat and somehow burnt taste his mouth had. But this was short-lived; the nice feelings the kiss gave Omoikane dissipated as quickly as the kiss came. The intimate touch was so, so much more than simple hand holding. He could feel everything that was Ruri, every emotion, every sense, every feeling. Not just her thoughts anymore. Everything. So Ruri's old sense of sadness was more than just a few arguing thought trains. It was multiplied ten-fold, and Omoikane felt like he would die. This wasn't organized into words at all. Images, sensations, everything was just so much MORE.

Ruri slapping her mother, the queen, until her mouth and nose bled. Ruri hitchhiking on the side of the road and climbing, willingly, into the passenger side of a truck, knowing full well the driver picking her up intended on raping and killing her. Ruri, several years older, passed out on somebody's stained carpet from drugs and alcohol. Ruri, stick thin and in a hospital gown, sitting in front of a doctor that was saying all sorts of incomprehensible things to her as she stared off into space.

The images were so absolutely horrifying to Omoikane that any feeling that the first kiss they were both sharing was a good thing was gone in a snap. But he didn't pull away. He couldn't bring up the strength to. He already wanted so very much to cry. But he couldn't. All he wanted to do was give into this sorrow, compounded with his frustration, angry, and sadness toward all of the events of that morning already. But he couldn't. He was not physically able to.

Those pictures stayed with him as Ruri pulled away, clouding his vision. But it was the sudden loss of her that caused him even more despair, and he bit his lip deeply and found himself unable to look away from Ruri's eyes. They were cold, determined, hard… and yet comforting. She was still alive. She was still in a good place. She wasn't dead, dying, or violently torturing herself or others. Omoikane's state of mind was nothing, as long as Ruri was all right. Was that her intent in the first place?

"These are the worst of the alternatives. But you see what happens when someone like me gives into bad emotions. I can show happiness. I have learned that happiness is a good thing. But sadness and pain is not, and can lead down so many bad roads. I can't just smile and push it away. But I can make it not matter to me. I've done it since I was little. And right now, that is my best option. You understand, Omoikane."

A statement. Not a question. But Omoikane nodded dumbly regardless. Ruri gave a short nod back, then began to gather her pajamas to put them into the laundry chute. "As for the others, I believe they will understand as well. I have been changing out of my old habits, but something like… my dearest maternal figure being taken away from me, I have no choice. In this environment, I have no choice. I have to hold my head, not cry, and just call everyone an idiot. Even if Yurika didn't want it that way, even you see that it is my best choice now, so that I can go on. Yurika would want me to at least do that."

Again, Omoikane nodded dumbly. He had no choice. She had no choice. While she had been swearing to no longer give into her emotions, she was, in a way. Giving into her sadness to not cause more. It was the best result, in the end, even if he didn't like it.

Ruri walked to her bedroom door, and turned to look over her shoulder. "I'm going to go to breakfast. Even if they do not expect me, I need to do something. Come with me."

Omoikane didn't just come, he ran up to her and wrapped his arms tightly around her waist, burying his face into her back. No matter what he did, he couldn't get those pictures to leave him, and for that, he wouldn't dare let Ruri leave his side. He no longer cared about the others now. Everything depended on Ruri's survival in these dark times.

And while these were dark times, Omoikane had no desire for them to be darker.

---

Megumi rolled her head on her shoulders, reaching high into the air at nothing and squeezing her eyes shut tight. Then, with a sigh, she relaxed fully and completely; even her eyelids loosened, though she kept them closed. She was tired. It felt like she had been working for hours. In her mind's eye, swirls of red and silver drowned out any comforting darkness she could have found in shutting her eyes. The impressions of all the scenes she had witnessed during her search blended together into an incomprehensible film. Sex. Death. Toilet paper.

After a moment of resting in her knelt position, Megumi slowly pulled herself to her feet, gasping as her knees popped loudly. She cracked her fingers and rolled her eyes around behind their lids. While her body ached, her eyes ached more. Examining all those signatures… it really took a toll. And for what? Nothing. Megumi had found absolutely nothing to even suggest a Jumper had been in the room in the past twenty-four hours other than Yurika herself and Jun. And while most of Jun's signatures were of a great variety of things, from sex to clogged drains, Yurika were more specific. They either had to do with sex itself, Jun, or the murder. But the ones focused on the murder were useless. They were nothing but sorrow and despair, and cries of pain. No faces, no "I can't believe this person is doing this to me", nothing. The killers had to have just caught Yurika off guard.

In the first few hours, Megumi was still in distress. She had been researching into who could possibly be the one who killed Yurika. It was still so horrible and new of an idea that she could barely think straight. But as time passed, Megumi had become more and more used to the concept, and it became less of something to do for Yurika, and more of an act of revenge. All that looking into Yurika's thoughts in her signatures hadn't erased her from Megumi's mind, but it had established why Megumi was here, doing this in the first place. Not because Yurika would have wanted it. Not to apologize to her father. But because Yurika was her old captain and no one messed with that.

So Megumi was less sad now. If anything, she was angry. Stopping at the door of the bedroom, Megumi turned at looked over the room again, worn out, but still angry. "Nothing here," she whispered harshly, nearly hissing. "Absolutely nothing. Those killers of yours were smart, Yurika, but we'll get them. Nobody does this to our own and gets away with it. They better watch their damn backs." And with that, Megumi left the room, shutting the door behind her.

Oh her way down the hallway, she nearly ran into Rumiko. She stopped suddenly and he let out a deep breath, clutching his chest. "Magus, Megumi. I didn't expect you. I was just coming to see how you were and how things were going."

"I see. Well, I'm done. Checked everyone single signature in their bedroom."

"And?"

"Nothing. Not a face, not a name, not a clue. These people are geniuses, Rumiko. I couldn't even get a single hint out of Yurika."

Rumiko hummed, then turned and headed out for the living room. Megumi followed, her mouth set into a firm line. That wasn't exactly the reaction she was expecting. She had expected Rumiko to swear, or to be upset that they had been eluded again with nothing but Yurika's touch in the whole thing. Rumiko was a stubbornly passionate person, and even occasionally passionately stubborn. Something had to be up for him to not be so upset that she couldn't find anything.

"Luckily, for us," he interrupted her thoughts, "they aren't smart enough to fool this fox here." He tapped his temple as the entered they living room. Yet, he continued to lead her into the kitchen and dining area before he stopped and turned to face her. "They've been getting sloppy."

"You found a signature?!"

"No. I found the Teleportation spot."

"Where? How?"

"Well, after a couple of hours, I realized that just dusting over the signatures out here was going to take ages with little to no results. But rather than go and interrupt you, I decided to look into the particles themselves in the signatures. After a while, I noticed that some of them looked different from the others. Because some of them had been used. They didn't, or rather wouldn't show the origin or destination of either Teleportation, but they had been used for a Teleport. I can't describe it. But it's right here." Rumiko pointed downward, to his left. It looked just like the rest of the house, covered in signatures, but it was a spot concealed by a wall, rather than a window or glass door like the rest of that particular wall. And although Rumiko could be wrong sometimes, Megumi was too exhausted to question his own findings. Hey, it was more than she had found.

"And there aren't any strange signatures on it?"

"No, there isn't."

"Then how do you know…"

"Because there weren't in any of the other places. I did a lot of research before this incident, Meg. I know. But because there isn't one, maybe the actual culprit isn't all that hard to pinpoint as we thought."

Megumi didn't understand. "I don't follow. How can it not be?"

"Well, gee, Meg. Who in our world today knows the most about Teleportation? Who pioneered the Jump Shuttle? Who could possibly have figured out how to cover up a Teleportation signature?"

Even Megumi's tired, incensed mind couldn't deny the name Rumiko was alluding to. With a regretful sigh, she posture loosened, as if letting go of a great burden. "Nergal," she answered, knowing full well it was redundant. They both knew who they were talking about.

"Exactly. And I'll give you three guesses as to at least one of the people involved, and the first two don't count."

Megumi nodded slowly. It was so obvious. Why hadn't they even thought to look to Nergal before? Oh. Because they were busy blaming Yurika. Megumi's heart began to race. They had suspected Yurika, and now she was dead. If they… "Rumiko. I think we should keep this quiet."

"Why?"

"Because… we don't even have a motive. Unless we are one-hundred-percent, absolutely sure… think about what we could be doing. We could be sentencing someone from there to death. We could wake up tomorrow with the news that Makibi Hari or Prospector or Doctor Fressange is found dead in their home, with no signs of a break-in. Rumiko… do we want to do that to them?"

"They can't be trusted, Meg. You've said that yourself."

"I know. But we need more proof. We can't base this on a hunch. I'm pissed off about Yurika being killed. I was pissed off about Mythos, too, Rumiko. But… we don't need more names we know and love added to that roster just because of association."

Rumiko looked away, but he seemed to not be angry. At least, not angry with her. He just seemed angry that things weren't going his way. "Gods damn it all. All we can get are hunches, but we can't use those. You're right about that. But that's all they're giving us. They are geniuses."

Megumi frowned. "I was afraid you'd say something like that."

---

She had been their captain. A golden girl. She had been a natural leader that was born to smile. She had had plenty reason to not do so. But still, she did. She had. But now… she wouldn't anymore.

That couldn't have been all there was to it. That couldn't have been all Itsuki thought about Yurika and her tragic passing. Not with her girlfriend merely feet away in a state of great distress. Not that Itsuki had heard the words come out of Ryoko's mouth. It didn't take a particularly bright person a week to realize that Ryoko wasn't a linguistic individual. And it didn't take Itsuki sleeping with Ryoko to realize that she didn't like to talk about her problems. Well, not the big ones, at least. The stupid, little, trivial things, Ryoko could talk about those. No problem there. But this… no matter what Itsuki thought personally about this situation, there was no way in a cold hell that it would be trivial for Ryoko.

So, instead, Itsuki sat in the gym, her arms wrapped tightly around her torso to fight against the biting cold of the air conditioner, watching her girlfriend pummel the living shit out of her punching bag. It had become hers when she pounded it badly when she realized her father had married Jun's mother. Another time when talking wasn't really for the tomboy. So now, instead of saying a word, Ryoko danced the warrior's dance, feet shuffling and hands placing lethal blows to the hanging bag as if it was a human, a robot, or something else entirely. But exactly what sort of emotion was pulling Ryoko's strings, Itsuki had no idea. Was Ryoko angry? One may say that it was an obvious observation. But it wasn't. Ryoko could do this when she felt nervous, sad, angry, or any other bad emotion she could possibly feel. And was Ryoko sad? Ryoko was going to be Yurika's Assist in her wedding come November. Ryoko was going to walk Yurika down the aisle from one of the room in the Church to the altar, kiss Akito to show that she was giving Yurika her permission to marry Jun, and dance at their reception. She was going to be very close to her stepbrother and his wife in the years to come. She was going to be the aunt at Yurika's first child's birth, and every child after that. It would have made complete sense for her to be upset.

But Itsuki couldn't figure it out. Was Ryoko angry, or sad? Did she want to chase down Yurika's killers and make them suffer, or was she mourning the life that was taken so cruelly? It was a valid question, and not one Itsuki had the answer to, surprisingly. She would not know for herself until Ryoko started to talk to her. And that probably wouldn't be for a while yet.

In any case, Yurika had been Itsuki's captain too! Itsuki may not have been on that Nadesico as long as Ryoko had, but she still served in the war under Yurika for the duration of the war. But… Even Itsuki wasn't sure of how she felt about hearing of Yurika's death that morning. While Yurika had been her commanding officer while she was on the ship, Itsuki never really got close to her like most of the rest of the crew. Itsuki didn't think she even spoke to Yurika any more than was needed. Even while Yurika was living under their roof, she didn't talk to her that much. Itsuki didn't know why. It's not like they had nothing in common. Both of their parents were well known. They both had taken Strategic Simulation Training. They were both Jumpers. They were both mages under Magus's influence. But… they just never talked.

Yurika did, however, talk to Ryoko. A great deal, even. Itsuki wasn't jealous of what they had. But Itsuki did feel a bit of remorse for never really getting to know Yurika. And as a result, she didn't know what to say to Ryoko to ease any pain she was feeling, because Ryoko had been close to Yurika, and she had not.

Ryoko didn't ever seem the type to make many friends. She had a temper and a chip on her shoulder like no one would believe. But she always did have friends with her, and no matter what, they were never taken from her. She had had Izumi and Hikaru all throughout her childhood. For a great deal of the war, Ryoko had Yurika. Even now, Ryoko also had Akito, her stepbrother, Jiro, and Itsuki. Ryoko was actually rather popular. But even if she had a full deck of friends, she valued them all, even Yurika.

And that was primarily why Itsuki couldn't aid Ryoko. The only ones that could would be those close to Yurika, that knew her and loved her. And they already needed help themselves. It was a dirty paradox.

Itsuki's thought processes were derailed upon seeing Ryoko collapse in a heavy panting, her limbs spread. Itsuki leapt to her feet and went over quickly, falling to her knees by Ryoko's side. "Are you all right, Ryoko?" she asked nervously. It was a stupid question, but she had to ask it. Itsuki didn't know what else to do. She felt absolutely helpless.

Ryoko shook her head quickly, her two-toned hair soaked in her sweat and sticking to her face. She covered her eyes with a tape-wrapped hand and let out a single sob. "Itsuki…" she cried hoarsely, her voice cracking. "We were supposed to go to their house tonight, Itsuki. For dinner. Dinner, Terra-dammit! We were going to go and we were all going to be great friends… You could have helped Jun with his music, Itsuki. Me and Yurika could have worked out wedding details. We could have done all of that, Itsuki, but they took that from us. How could they take that from us? How could they take all that happiness from me, Itsuki?"

Itsuki shook her head somberly. She didn't know. Seeing Ryoko so devastated was heartbreaking. All Itsuki wanted to do was cradle Ryoko in her arms until she would stop weeping. She… Magus, she wished nature had taken Yurika's life instead, if Yurika had been so destined to die. Because at least them Ryoko wouldn't have anyone to blame. And the fact that there was someone to blame… it was scary. Everyone had expected Yurika to be found guilty of the previous murders. But there was no way she could have done that to herself. This was a million times worse than Ryoko losing her mother to disease. A million times worse than Itsuki and Jiro losing their parents to war. That was chance, fate, nature, even. This… this was humanity acting against itself. Not bigwig government types throwing a hissy-fit. Someone had wanted Yurika dead. Why?

Could those killers be trying to make those involved with the war and the slaughter on Ninlan pay for their crimes? If that was the case, who could possibly be safe? Certainly not developers of missiles and robots. Certainly not master Jumpers. And most definitely not robot pilots. None of them, not one of them was safe.

Itsuki felt her own tears well up in her eyes. She bit her lip and shook her head, trying to make them go away, but only making them spill over. She wasn't all that sad. But what she was was probably ten times worse. "I'm scared Ryoko," she stammered softly. "I… I really am."

---

Akito had learned a lot from How Mei over the years. One such thing was the ability to, no matter how many things were popping, sizzling, frying, boiling, or rising, sense when someone had entered the kitchen only as they are opening the door. And so, with a quick toss of his sausage from skillet to strainer, Akito growled under his breath. "Look, I'm not done yet. If you just wait fifteen more minutes, food will be done and you can eat like the savages you are!"

"I'm not in here looking for food, Akito. I'm in here to talk to you." Soft, sorrowful, and somewhat deep, threatening to squeak out if he dared to raise his voice an octave. Gai.

Akito set his mouth into a firm line and threw the sausage back into the skillet. "Maybe I don't want to talk."

"Akito, don't be like this."

"Be like what!?" Akito turned his head and, accidentally, his whole body as well. His waist knocked the pan out of his hands and off the stove, hitting the floor with a clang and spreading sausage and broth across the tiles of the kitchen floor. Akito leapt back, kicking his feet out of his slippers so they wouldn't get wet. "Son of a bitch!" Akito swore, pushing his fingers through his hair and turning around, shaken.

Gai just calmly reached for the paper towels and began to clean up the mess. Akito knew that the mixture had been hot, but Gai made no sound to indicate that it was hurting him in any way. Akito let his hands fall and turned back to see his boyfriend turn off the fire on the stove and place the pan into the sink. The mess hadn't taken him long to clean, though the floor wouldn't be truly clean until someone gave it a once over with a mop. But frankly, Akito didn't care at the moment. He sighed deeply, his whole body limp. He was exhausted, mentally and emotionally. And this… this was the last straw. He would have to start dinner over again, and he honestly didn't think he had the strength to. "I'm sorry," he whispered, ashamed of his mistake. He didn't like to make mistakes like that.

"Hey, no big deal. We can just order out; I had planned on it anyway. Why were you cooking?" Gai had come up behind Akito and placed his hands on Akito's cheeks. He trailed his hands down his neck and his shoulders, giving his arms a good rub before Akito answered. Akito knew he was trying to be comforting.

"So I wouldn't think." Akito leaned his head and body back, letting his head rest on Gai's shoulder at an odd angle.

Gai answered this movement by wrapped his arms around Akito's waist. "I know. I just got off the phone with Misumaru-san."

Akito stiffened at the mention of Yurika's father. "What did he say?"

"He's pissed off, and really sad. He actually called to talk to Jun, but I had to tell him that Jun is just as devastated as he is."

Akito hummed. He had spent all day just going through the motions, and trying his best to not think of Yurika. But he really didn't want to think about it. He hadn't let himself do so since he got that phone call from Jun early that morning. And he wasn't going to start.

Upon remembering that Gai had come into the kitchen to talk to him, Akito pulled Gai's limbs off him and sighed, walking over to the refrigerator and throwing it open. "Do we have any broccoli left?"

"Akito, I just said that we'll get delivery. You don't need to cook."

"Yes, I do!" shouted Akito, clenching his hands into fists and slamming the refrigerator door closed. He spun around, his eyes cold and hard as he glared at his boyfriend. Already he could feel the room get cold. "I need to, okay? Even if no one eats it, I don't care! I just… I need to do this, dammit!"

Gai wasn't taken aback by this outburst. Apparently, he had seen quite a few of Akito's upset moments, and wasn't put off by this latest one. "Why? Why don't you want to talk? I know she was important to you."

"Important, hell." Akito felt his voice crack and shook his head, forbidding himself to cry. "She was important to me. She was the first fucking friend I ever had. She was my first girlfriend. She was my first fucking kiss. She was important to me. That's a fucking understatement." And after all his work to not think about Yurika, here he was, saying things. He didn't even know what he was saying. "And all I want to do is either help Junny or cook, because then I won't have to let my brain think about her and how much I feel so guilty. She wanted so much to be friends, and I never let up. I never let her in again. Once we broke up, that was it and I wasn't going to be nice to her anymore. Aqua… I was so petty. Stupid. And I… I don't want to fucking sit here and think about how she went to the fucking grave thinking I hated her. And I don't, Aqua!" His own personal resolve crumbled, and his eyes spilled over, created two icy tracks down his face.

Akito was turned against his will and trapped into Gai's chest. He squeezed his eyes shut and hugging his boyfriend back. He felt rumbling in Gai's chest against his ear, and only half-heard what Gai was saying. "I don't think she thinks that."

Akito let out a small, sarcastic laugh. "'Thinks'? You talk about her as if she's still alive."

"She is, if only in our memories."

"Cut the sentimental bullshit, Gai. Besides, all I have are mostly bad memories of her anyway."

"At least you have some. Yurika was a powerful figurehead, Akito, and many will mourn her without knowing her, or her tendency to wear sweaters in painfully hot weather."

Akito frowned. "You know, I still don't feel one-hundred-percent."

"I don't expect you to. But I would like to see at least something of a smile. That'll make ME feel better, at least…"

Akito let go of Gai somewhat, his hands still on Gai's hips. Akito knit his eyebrows and turned his lips upward at the corners, into something of a sadistic smile. It was a heartless smile, with no feeling in it. To fix it, Akito opened his mouth a bit, smiling sadly with teeth. He knew it looked horrible, but he didn't want to smile. Not the day after Yurika was killed.

Gai sighed and trailed one cold path the tear tracked on Akito's cheek. He shook his head. "It's a start."

---

On any other Monday, Viktor would have been mostly preoccupied calculating how much money was needed to pay off the employees' expense reports, granted that they even turned them in. Then, he would have to read over all the requests for more funding, like the Jump Research Department, or the Computing Department, and figure which needed it more, and how much they could spare. Then he would have to go through the commissions sent in, pick out the ones he thought would be the most profitable for the company, and send them upstairs. This took several hours every Monday, and set up the work for most of the rest of the week. But only on a usual Monday, which this certainly was not.

Viktor had not seen or spoken to any other former Nadesico crew since reading the news in the paper yesterday morning, and he didn't really think he was up to it. But, as he was a complete workaholic, he couldn't not show. So, as he passed by the security desk upon entering the building, he kept his head down and walked quickly, as if he was infiltrating the building. But nothing ever got past Goat. Viktor knew Goat saw him push the button on the elevator to go up to his office, but he silently thanked him for not coming over or even saying anything.

Viktor, along with various faceless executives, secretaries, or mailroom boys, traveled several floors up to the Accounting Department. He left the elevator and walked briskly to his office, a nice corner thing with a great view of the city. Though that view was somewhat skewed now, the light rain sliding down the window in tiny streams. With a small nod to his own secretary, he pushed his door open, intending to shut the blinds as soon as he entered. He was already down enough without a gray day to make him feel worse.

But he never got to the blinds. Because as soon as he took hung up his umbrella, he noticed that he already had a folder on his desk. He always left his desk cleaned off when he left for his home. Someone must have come in and placed it there, and only a few people had the keys to his office.

But Viktor didn't ask Laurie who placed the folder in his office. With the list of people with access being so small, Viktor knew he could figure it out himself just by checking it over. So he sat down in his chair unceremoniously and looked it over. It had a bright yellow note attached to the front, and it was that note that made it easy to see who it was from. Thick, black pen strokes, and a mixture of both small and exaggerated lettering: Erina's handwriting. Viktor sighed and readjusted his glasses, actually reading the note.

"TOP PRIORITY! All information on Misumaru Yurika, her time at Nergal, religious alignment, last requests, and will. Misumaru's funeral plans in my office ASAP!"

Of course. It made sense. Yurika had stayed a Nergal employee after disembarking from the Nadesico. She had been an Experimental Jump Subject, and standard procedure was that Nergal employees were given free funerals, paid for by the company. And since he was the main person who handled Nergal's finances, it made sense for him to have this folder. He was even mildly ashamed that he didn't realize that from the get-go. But he didn't really like having this specific task before him. It was going to almost take all day. With a sigh and a quick rub of his temples, he pushed the intercom button. "Laurie, could you come in here please?"

It only took a moment for the older woman to enter. "Yes, Mr. Bros?"

"Could you send off the expense reports and funding requests to Rhoda and Koichi for them to work on? Something's come up and I can't do it myself."

"Of course, Mr. Bros," she said quickly, coming over to take the necessary files and papers. "May I ask why?"

Viktor held up the thick folder on his desk. "Misumaru Yurika's funeral information," he explained.

Laurie gasped and grasped at her collar. "My lord. That poor girl! Wait, wasn't she…"

"Captain of the Nadesico, yes," he answered, annoyed. "And a Boson Jump Experimental Subject. That's why WE'RE doing her funeral. She was murdered this weekend."

"Good god. Well, I'll leave you alone then. You obviously have a lot of work ahead of you," she turned on her heel and made her way out of his office.

"Thank you, Laurie." God, his secretary was annoying at times. But after a deep breath, Viktor calmed himself. He needed to focus. This was important. Usually, some of his flunkies like Rhoda or Koichi took care of funeral or wedding files. But, as this one was Yurika's, Viktor was half-glad he was allowed to do hers. Half-glad… and half-tired. Just looking at the thick folder made him weary to the bone.

Despite all of this, it was still work that needed to be done, and Viktor was not one to just let work sit around. He opened the folder, grasping a pen to make any notes as needed in his quest to find out how much Yurika's funeral was going to cost.

The first page was just basic information. Name, date of birth, place of birth. Last residence, last occupation, next of kin. Salary, benefits, insurance information. Even a somewhat outdated photo of when Yurika was still Captain of the Nadesico. As most of this was either common knowledge or irrelevant, Viktor continued on. The only thing he needed, really, from that page, was Admiral Misumaru's contact information, as he was Yurika's closest living relative.

Yurika was a follower of the Pentakami religion, and though she wasn't active, it mattered to her when Akatsuki had died. It didn't take a piece of paper in Yurika's file for Viktor to know that Yurika had changed religions last year upon their discovery of Ninlan. And Viktor HAD been present at Akatsuki's funeral. And while the weddings were ornate and highly detailed, the funeral was not. It began as a gathering in the church, a gathering of those close to the deceased. Those that knew them best would speak, describing their relationship, the deceased's personality and mannerisms, and maybe tell of several memories they had of the deceased. Then the current priest or priestess would formally bid goodbye to the deceased, and the attendees would go to the cemetery or place that the remains were kept and silently give their own, personal goodbyes. It was so simple to do. The only thing they needed o be set up were the guests, where Yurika's remains would be taken care of, and if there was a Pentakami Church in the area.

But first things came first. Viktor typed in the number to contact Yurika's father into his call projector, which was larger than, but worked just like the wrist communicators they used on the Nadesico. It took only a moment for a window depicting the visage of Admiral Misumaru Kouichiro appeared. The past previous times Viktor and Kouichiro spoke weren't always tea and cookies. The first time, Kouichiro was demanding ownership of the Nadesico. The second time, the Nadesico had mutinied. Since then, it had been merely business concerning either Nergal or Yurika herself: UEAF orders for battleships ad just where Yurika was living NOW, and the like. Never very positive things. And this call would be no different.

Viktor tried to stay at least somewhat optimistic about this. "Well, hello there, Admiral Misumaru, and how are you this morning?" Viktor inwardly winced at his own cheerful tone. He was just as sad as the next guy about this. But he sure didn't sound it.

"Not well, as I'm sure you're aware." It was a curt response, and one that was well, considering Viktor's previous voice inflections. He mentally turned down the optimism. He was her father, for god's sake. To show sadness would be respectful!

"Er, yes, well… That is precisely what I'm contacting you about. You may be aware that it is Nergal policy to orchestrate free weddings and funerals for all employees, and Misumaru-san WAS an employee of Nergal, even after her time on the Nadesico."

"That's very kind of your company, however, I think–"

"Admiral, the average funeral costs over six hundred thousand yen. Regardless of whether you can afford it or not, this is one of the ways we thank our employees' families for their time spent here. We don't like grieving families to be bogged down financially by this. That's why it's our policy." Viktor gave a smile. "There is nothing for you to worry about, sir. We have her requests and religion's customs on funerals. We will make it flawless and we will schedule it to be right after the coroner is finished with her body. What we DO need is your permission to go ahead and make arrangements." Sometimes, Viktor scared himself with his marketing skills. Kouichiro looked like he was really considering it.

"All right," Kouichiro consented, obviously a little put out by the offer, "but on one condition."

"Certainly."

"You understand that this is a very hard time for me. Not only have I lost her mother, but I've lost my dear Yurika. But her mother was buried in the same cemetery as the rest of my relatives. I'd like for… Yurika to be buried there a well."

"Done. Just tell me where it is, and we'll have it done."

"The cemetery at the Asama Temple , in the Chichibu Mountains ."

"Outside of Tokyo , right?"

"Right."

"All right. That's feasible. Thank you very much for your time, Admiral."

"It's fine. And I really don't mind if it is a Pentakami ceremony, Yurika would like that."

"With all due respect, sir, we were going to go through with a Pentakami funeral, even if you demanded one of your own religion. Only because we know personally that the Pentakami religion meant a lot to Misumaru-san."

"Good."

Not a response Viktor was expecting, but he recovered quickly. "I'm very sorry about your loss, and I will give you all the information concerning the funeral as it comes."

"Thank you very much, Mr. Bros. I'll be waiting."

"Goodbye."

"Goodbye."

It had been intense, but it was over. Viktor sighed in relief and slumped in his chair. All right, so now Nergal had full permission and a location to be centered in. Now they needed someone to conduct the ceremony before Viktor could figure out guest lists. And the only Pentakami Church in the area was headed by Goldspring Othinakothe, a priest sent from Ninlan directly to Tokyo . Viktor inputted the number of Tokyo 's Pentakami Church and waited for another face to appear.

What appeared was just a small, sparsely decorated office. Viktor looked around a bit, and came to the conclusion that no one had noticed the window open. "Hello?" he called out, hoping someone was at least within earshot.

"What on Earth… Oh!" A man dressed in all red and orange came into view and sat before the window. He had droopy, dark eyes, dark gray hair that circled his forehead like some sort of clamshell hat, and a rather large nose and mouth. He tilted his head to the side, and Viktor realized that this may have been the man he was looking for. "Hello…"

"Greetings. You wouldn't be… Goldspring Othinakothe, by any chance, would you?"

"Yes, I would. And you are…?"

Viktor pushed up his glasses. This call shouldn't be this awkward. "Viktor Bros, Head of Accounting and Finances here at Nergal Heavy Industries. Have you heard of a woman by the name of Misumaru Yurika?"

Goldspring let out an incredulous laugh. "'Heard of her'? I can't seem to hear enough of her! You know that our services yesterday were brought to an early end, because the local authorities showed up to ask questions? Honestly, I had not heard so much about this woman since the Nadesico landed!"

"Well then, this shouldn't be that difficult. I'm not looking for information on the case. I'm looking for… funeral services."

"For Misumaru?"

"Yes. She followed the Pentakami religion and we want to honor her the way she would like it."

"Absolutely. I'll do it myself. When would be a good time to schedule it?"

"I'm not entirely sure yet. Whenever the coroner is finished investigating her body, but that shouldn't be too much longer. Also, we need to have her buried at the cemetery at Asama Temple . All of her family is buried there."

"Shouldn't be a problem. It's not too far from here. Give me a call as soon as you have a date, and I'll make arrangements. Do you have a guest list yet? And how much money are you willing to spend?"

"Whatever it takes. And no, I'm afraid not. I'm just making the initial arrangements. You understand, Lord Othinakothe?"

"Of course! And please, just call me Goldspring, Mr. Bros. Flamma is not one to take formalities to heart."

"All right, Goldspring. Thank you for your time, and I will get back to you as soon as I have the date from the coroner."

" Thank you , Br. Bros. We'll be in touch. Goodbye."

"Goodbye." Two down, many more to go. Viktor sighed as he looked up the coroner's information in Yurika's file. It was going to be a very long morning.

---

The day was undoubtedly gloomy, as was appropriate for the first day back in the office since hearing the news. But it wasn't EXACTLY the first day back for Erina. She was here late into Saturday night, hosting a party with Kaguya that resulted in a commission Nergal and Asuka had been dying for: a complete overhaul of the UEAF battleship computers and an order for no less than fifty more Phase Transition-powered battleships for the UEAF as well. It had gone over well and the night was a success. Or at least, it was CONSIDERED a success until news came the next morning that Yurika had been killed. It wasn't too much of a shocker, really. In the latest string, Erina was surprised that they hadn't caught on to the pattern yet. If they had, there would have been a great amount of guards and police officers swarming all over that house. But there hadn't, and Yurika died because of it. The incompetence of the world's police force was really embarrassing.

But beyond that, Erina had come in Sunday morning and spent all day organizing everything there needed to be for Yurika's funeral. She had no idea when the coroner would be done with the body, but she had minions to figure things out like that. And it was Nergal policy put into play by her cousin Nagare, and to follow through would be what he wanted, especially since Nagare and Yurika had been lovers once.

Erina wasn't jealous; she really wasn't. Of course, that's what she swore all of the time, every time. Nagare had Erina chose the captain of the Nadesico herself, and choose she did. Top of her class, Yurika was perfect. Of course, it did help that Erina had found her easy on the eyes. But that had been before she had met the girl when they both decided to join the crew of the Nadesico. Yurika was, simply put, infuriating. In the Akito-obsessed state Yurika was during the war, Erina would have been glad to hand her over to her cousin. HE could deal with her. Besides, Erina had Inez, and Inez was capable of rational thought that wasn't pink and flowery.

But when the Nadesico was missing for all that time, Erina had been worried. About her cousin, about Inez, and about Yurika. Soon, news had come about the events that had taken place on Ninlan. Nagare was dead by Aoi's hands. Nagare and Yurika had slept together on numerous occasions. Inez was now with Maki and had been in a coma prior to the Nadesico's departure. Not all good news, obviously, for Erina. But time had passed, and passed quickly. The Treaty of Mars was signed, ending the war. Ninlan was becoming a nation of its own in the world. The Gardenia was finished and crew chosen. And then, the Nadesico was found.

Things had happened, and Erina was certain that any possible relationship with Yurika was lost. That was why she had been with Kaguya. Kaguya was higher in society than Yurika, but came from nearly the same background. In essence, Yurika and Kaguya weren't all that much different. The big difference was that Kaguya had an ego on her, whereas Yurika did not, or at least not one as large. Though, Erina had to add with a wistful smirk, Kaguya's ego had been draining slowly with her time at Nergal, which had fused with Asuka soon after they had started going together.

But when the Nadesico had returned to normal space, Erina was a little happier to see Inez, rather than Yurika. Whether she was with Kaguya or not, Inez was her first love, and Erina still loved her to this day. Erina had even soon broken up with Kaguya to entice Inez. But the Martian doctor had not followed through. Erina didn't understand what Maki did to gain Inez's affections so, but she wanted to break that spell. Erina would admit it, she had USED Yurika to get to Inez. Erina had hooked up with her, only to show Inez that Erina could have any woman she wanted: straight, lesbian, Earthling or Martian. But there wasn't anyone Erina wanted more than Inez. Erina may have chosen Yurika for the Nadesico, but that was mostly on skill. No way had she ever fallen for such a ditz.

But, as such things went, Erina found herself with Kaguya again. THAT one she couldn't explain, even now. It wasn't to get to Inez, it wasn't for the sex, it wasn't for love, and it wasn't even for power. Or was it? Nergal and Asuka had fused, and if Erina could control the CEO of Asuka, she could control the whole company, in both parts. Twice as much command with very little work. But Erina couldn't make herself believe that, no matter how power-hungry she could be. And there was one reason for that. Erina felt her dominion over everything that was associated to her crumbling.

She had the company. She had her employees at her beck-and-call. But this had gone too far. Erina had to spend more and more time making sure that everything she did was justified, much more time than actually doing things. She hadn't been to witness a Jump Experiment in months. She hadn't seen Lapis or Hari in ages. Magical Princess Natural Laichi was three weeks behind in production. She had only recently come to the discovery that Inez had been holding her own Jump Experiments with Hari, and she had been doing it for quite some time. And now, the one person Erina had the most influence over had been killed.

But still, Erina was surprised. Not at all. And it hadn't surprised her that the authorities still didn't believe that she had been busy with a business party Saturday night, even though everyone had been there. Erina was sure that, with all the clout she did appear to have, no matter how much of it was true or not, she did fit the bill for public enemy number one. Especially since the discovery that the Jumper involved with the killings was a Martian. That left four names, and now one of them was dead. Tenkawa had no reason to kill any of them, so Erina, in close cohorts with Inez and Kaguya, those left, was the perfect suspect.

And that's how things stood now. Outside, in the dripping rain, two cop cars were pulling up the driveway to the entrance of the main building. Erina just sighed. Nergal was always at fault. During the war, the UEAF hated Nergal because they had their own agenda and a bigger and better ship than them. After the war, Nergal was just a slimy company that did a lot of atrocious things, including but not limited to the coup on Mars twenty years prior and the cover-up of the Jupiterians. Never mind that the UEAF was involved as well. And now, with Nergal picking up other companies like Asuka and the Crimson Group, they were most definitely responsible for the brutal attacks.

"Let them come," Erina whispered, closing the blinds on the window. She relinquished any sort of responsibility for this long ago. She had no control over what was happening anymore, and there was nothing she could do about it.

"Miss Won," came Goat's gruff voice from behind her. Erina knew he had opened a communications window, but she did not turn. "The specialists looking into the Jumper murders are here. They have a warrant."

"Let them do what they came to do," she answered, finally turning. There was no fear in her face, something that may or may not have been comforting. Goat nodded once and then the window was gone. Erina stood straight and tugged the bottom of her burgundy sports jacket. She was not afraid. There was nothing to be afraid of. They were incompetent, as they had already proven, so there was nothing to be worried about at all.

But she was not surprised either.

---

Inez had just been collecting her things to go home and get ready for the next day's Jump Experiment with Hari when the door into her office and laboratory opened. Inez looked up over the frames of her glasses and smiled at the familiar face of Goat at the door. She reached up to take her glasses off and greet Goat. He normally didn't come down to her floor, because there were never any problems. She was surprised to see him now, and knew he wasn't there for a chat. Goat wasn't like that.

But she was a little put off by how his eyes became downcast so quickly. Staring at her floor, he pushed the door open more, holding it open for someone behind his large body. There were two people Inez hadn't seen before then, having been obscured by Goat. One was a tall woman with short white hair, the other a menacing dark man almost as big as Goat himself. Both were dressed in brown business suits and Inez was sure she had seen a flash of a gun at the woman's hip.

It was that sight that made Inez straighten her posture. She wasn't even sure she had a gun, but if she had, and Goat let her in willingly, they had some not-so-nice business with Inez to attend to. She felt a shiver race down her spine in fear. She, afraid? Impossible.

The woman took off her sunglasses, reached into a coat pocket, and showed her badge. Tokyo Police Department. They had come from a long way. "Doctor Fressange, I am Detective Uraba, and this is Detective Onenalit. We are here to place you under arrest for the murder of Misumaru Yurika." Detective Onenalit held up a paper that was most obviously the warrant for Inez's arrest. "We'd advise you to come calmly so that we will not be pressured to use force."

Despite her heart pounding in her head, Inez merely raised a blonde eyebrow. "Really." She swallowed once and blinked, trying to regain her bearings and understanding of the situation. "Well," she said with a deep sigh, "I suppose I have no choice." She held her hands up, palms skyward.

Detective Uraba looked to her partner and nodded her head at Inez. She then nodded once to Inez. "A wise decision, Doctor."

"I would hope so."

Detective Onenalit moved behind her with a pair of handcuffs. "Hands behind your back, please," he rasped out, using his voice for the first time since appearing in the door. Inez nodded and did what she was told. As Detective Onenalit fastened the restraints on her wrists, Inez kept her chin up. She may have been worried now, but she was not entirely surprised. One did not work at Nergal without being worried of arrest or police investigation. No one trusted Nergal anymore, and they had no reason to. Especially not now, Inez knew. Terra, did she know.

Detective Uraba nodded, satisfied. "All right. We're going to have to take you to the train station. We're not authorized to let a high-priority suspect of a Jumper onto a Jump Shuttle. You understand."

No. "Yes."

"Well then. Onenalit, let's go." Detective Uraba turned on her heel and walked down the basement hall to the elevator. Detective Onenalit grasped Inez's upper arm in a massive hand and lead her out of her own laboratory. As they passed Goat, he kept his eyes downcast. Inez frowned. He must honestly think Inez was involved. It was then that Inez realized how much she knew that others didn't. She was under the impression that everyone who worked at Nergal knew what had happened. Why. What was going on.

Exiting the building was uneventful until reaching the main floor. It was then that all three of them were stopped by a shout. "INEZ!" Inez bodily stopped and turned to see over her shoulder. The two detectives did as well, noting that it was Erina who ran down the curved stairway from the second floor. Erina slowed before reaching then, panting. "What is going on here?"

Detective Uraba turned completely. "We have a warrant for her arrest, Miss Won. Doctor Fressange is the main suspect in a high-profile case. I'm afraid we have to take her."

Inez wasn't completely sure, but something was different about Erina. Before the detective spoke, Erina seemed pissed off. Now, she was just… frightened. Like someone had just told her she was going to die in twenty minutes. She took a deep breath and swallowed. She bit both her lips together, as if she had just finished applying her lipstick and turned to Inez. "God. Don't be found guilty, Inez."

"I won't." Inez gave a reassuring smile before having her shoulder pushed lightly by the large male detective. Inez got the message; time to go. Inez nodded and the three of them left Nergal Headquarters and a devastated Erina on her knees in the lobby.

---

TBC…

---

A/N: Sorry it took so long to get out. I found writing this to be really depressing, so it was difficult to get through. But, for the record, this chapter is done with what I think is a doozy of a cliffhanger. Anyway, there shouldn't be too many chapters left in this fanfic. I mean, there are three weeks in the story left until the end, and while it will be an eventful three weeks, we've gone through a month in a chapter before. I'm looking at maybe… three more or four more until the story comes to a close. But for now… I'm afraid this will be the last chapter of IyM until at least December. Hey, I got NaNoWriMo coming up! Not to mention finals and stuff… But anyway. Loved it? Hated it? Thought it was sick and twisted? Leave me a review or drop me a line. See ya!


	30. 070999 071099

A/N: Well, remember what I said about no other characterization that had nothing to do with plot? Well, I'm a dirty liar. I just can't live without talking about all the other people that weren't so affected by what happened in turning point. Anyway, taking that into consideration, this is the next chapter and it only composes of two days in the storyline, in case you couldn't tell.

The leaves made soft, rustling sounds. It being the middle of what was appearing to be a short summer, the leaves were still lush, green. Despite the sort of place this was, there was still that healthy tree in front of the window. It gave Izumi something to look at while seated at that bench facing a desk with a large pane of reinforced glass between another desk and an empty chair. The window was high up, near the ceiling, but completely open, save for the bars that separated that tiny space from the rest of the world. No glass separating it there. Izumi could hear the leaves whispering in the wind and the birds calling greetings to each other. She could smell the beginnings of a day that morning, that dew scent that said that it had been a relatively cold night last night, the scent of donuts at the shop down the street, the faint smell of rubber and tar from the early morning traffic. Had it not been for this early peace, Izumi would have found herself in a constant state of worry, and wondering. Was Inez all right? How long would they keep her? Why was she a prime suspect? Did they really think Inez killed Yurika? Did Inez really kill Yurika? Why?

Izumi's progressively negative thoughts were interrupted by a large and loud clanging sound from somewhere behind the glass; a sound that made the reality of this prison much more alive, more alive that the sound soft leaves or the smells of donuts. It was a place of holding, captivity, and the place Izumi found that Inez had been taken. She leaned to the side a bit, straining to see into the room that was kept out of reach by glass. The large metal door on the other side was open and a large guard stepped back out of the way of someone behind him. Inez, dressed in a pink jumpsuit that had somehow turned a slight dull gray from too many washings and her hair loose, walked into the room that was hidden behind glass. Izumi straightened at the sight of her lover, but her mind was crying, weeping for Inez's physical state and mourning the death of Izumi's skepticism. Aqua, she even looked like a felon now.

Inez sat down, at the guard's prompt, at the chair that faced Izumi. Izumi set her mouth into a firm line. Inez didn't look like she had gotten much sleep, but she also looked as she always did: intense, intelligent, and perhaps even a bit pompous. Izumi grasped the phone on her desk and put it to her ear. Inez copied the gesture, as the phone was the only way they could speak through that thick glass. Now that they could speak, Izumi couldn't find a word she wanted to say. Inez spoke first, then. "Good morning, Izumi. How are you?"

That voice. So perfect, so concise. A voice Izumi heard as often as possible, through a device not unlike the one in her hand now. But it was only then that Izumi cried. She didn't cry when she had to go with Akito to pick up Jun. She didn't cry when she learned why. She didn't cry when she was helping Hikaru bring Jun out of his depression, even though it was still very strong in him now. She didn't cry when she had gone into work on Monday without Akito to find all of Peaceful Days in black. She didn't cry when she had heard that Inez had been arrested over the news last night. She didn't even cry when driving with Hikaru into Tokyo to go see and speak with Inez. But now, the tears were plenty, and they trailed off her cheeks and onto the desk, until Izumi dropped the phone in an effort to cover her face, to hide her long-kept tears from the one that had fathered them.

"Izumi. Pick up the phone now." The voice was fainter now, but even more stern. It appeared to be coming from both the other side of the glass and the phone laying on the desk. As if entranced, Izumi lifted it to her ear with a sob. Only now, her words found her, no matter how drowned and wrung out they sounded on the other end of the line.

"Why, Inez? Why? Why are you there? You couldn't have possibly have killed Yurika, could you?" A tissue box had somehow appeared at Izumi's side, but she thought nothing of who could have brought it to her. She took several and began to mop up her face, her hand still gripping the phone to her head.

"Well, that's just what the lawyers, judge, and jury will have to determine when the time comes." Inez's response was remarkably calm and solemn, though not giving away the answer Izumi had wanted.

"You can't even tell me whether you truly did it or not?" Izumi was just scolding herself mentally for doubting Inez when she noticed something. The silent guard that had accompanied Inez still stood by the, now closed, door. He was there to make sure nothing happened. And to eavesdrop, most likely. Inez wasn't one to lie, but she certainly was skirting around the question. Perhaps, just maybe... Inez was guilty.

"I'm afraid not." Izumi felt another wave of tears coming, not from Inez's words, but by her own conclusions and how she was so easily condemning the woman she loved. "Izumi, listen to me. There are some things in my life that I did that were probably wrong of me. Unlocking the Jump Computer. Getting Hari to be my Jump Experiment Subject. My... other project." The experiment of injecting nanomachines into humans since the Jump Computer was unlocked. Izumi knew, and asked nothing. "And it is those things that have brought me here. Not killing Yurika. My experience with Boson Jumping, my understanding of the science, and my Martian heritage. No one saw the deed done. They don't know who did it. So they are searching for who may have known how it was done. That, Izumi, is me."

"Aqua."

"I know. But things are as they are, and I will place my life in justice's hands. Have faith, and live as you are meant to."

Those words did it for Izumi. Inez's reluctance to explain what was going on, her explanation as to why she was where she was, none of that had made it so very clear to Izumi that Inez was guilty than those words. Inez would let justice take over her life. Izumi was to live on without her. Go on, and not worry. Justice will prevail.

Inez was led away, but Izumi saw none of it. Her eyes were blinded by curtains, streams, and rivers of tears. She was in love with a murderer. Inez killed Yurika. Their captain. Jun's fiancee. One of the kindest and loveliest people in the world was dead by the hand of Izumi's own lover.

These thoughts repeated in Izumi's head for what seemed to be forever. Only when a soft hand grasped her shoulder, did she even dare to look up. She didn't have to look up far, for there stood Hikaru, frowning, but her face sympathetic. An expression Izumi saw just two days prior, only with Jun in Hikaru's arms. An expression Izumi had seen many times before. Izumi wrapped her arms around Hikaru quickly, burying her face into Hikaru's stomach. Hikaru's muscles did not stiffen at the agile embrace, but rather relaxed, and Hikaru's arms fell around Izumi's head. Her hands massaged Izumi's hair, combing it through and patting it. "Come on," whispered Hikaru, loosening Izumi's arms so she could sit on her haunches. She looked up into Izumi's face with a soft smile, one of reassurance, and tilted her head a bit, childishly. "Let's go home, okay?"

Izumi gave a small nod and Hikaru stood, taking Izumi's hands into hers. Hikaru pulled Izumi to her feet and led her out of the room. Izumi gave a small glance at the high window she had looked at before dissolving into a creature of sadness. The leaves were no longer moving or whispering. They did and were practically nothing.

---

No one ever refused her offers. Hikaru took a slight bit of pleasure in hearing about what was bothering others. So she always offered. And she found most people took a slight bit of pleasure in talking about their problems. They also liked to talk about themselves a great deal: their families, their jobs, their favorite things to do on Saturday nights. But Hikaru liked hearing about other people's problems most of all. She liked to think that it made her own problems seem much smaller. Which is probably why she was going out of her way to help Jun out, even though they didn't really have much in common, other than having been single and virginal for a long, long time. And now, in walking to the car with a nearly despondent Izumi, Hikaru was about to indulge herself in her guilty pleasure once again.

After reaching the car and climbing into the backseat, Hikaru held her hands out for Izumi to follow. She did silently, her normally pale face still a bright shade of red from her crying. Hikaru tapped the front seat where Brigit still sat. "We can go now, Bridgey. Thanks for waiting."

"No problem, Miss Hikaru." Brigit started the car and Hikaru sat back and buckled herself in. A glance at her best friend showed that Izumi hadn't, and Hikaru knew why. Izumi always was emotionally dependent on those she loved. This only showed that it was anything highly negative that happened to one of her lovers that sent her into this careless state, not just their death. Hikaru buckled her in for her.

It was only when the car had turned out of the parking lot and into the street when Hikaru began to speak. "So, what happened?"

Izumi didn't answer right away. She just stared at her hands, turning them over in her lap. Hikaru didn't push. Izumi wasn't one of those that couldn't refuse her offer to listen. Well, Izumi couldn't refuse, but she would try her best to do so. "... I think she's guilty."

Well, that was something Hikaru didn't expect. She didn't show her surprise, however. She hadn't shown her sadness or surprise about Yurika being dead at the time, or yet, even, and she wasn't about to with this. Something was a little more pressing. "Really. What did she say?"

"That since they couldn't find who did kill Yurika, and they didn't know who would, they simply went after who could have done it."

"Well, that doesn't sound too much like she admitted to committing murder."

"She didn't. She can't fly, and there is only one of her." Izumi snickered, bending her head a bit so her curtain of bangs hid her cold smile from Hikaru. Hikaru merely frowned, but said nothing to this. Izumi was dabbling in puns again. Since Inez, Izumi only ever did this when very sad.

"Well, she had to have said something else. Something must have happened for you to think she's guilty. Come on, Izumi. I need you to help me if you want me to help you."

"Who says I need help? I'm fine. I'm so fine I'm smooth." Snicker.

"Don't be like this, Izumi." Hikaru bit her lip. She had to bring out her strict voice. She didn't like that. It meant she wanted to be listened to, and to be taken seriously. No puns, no jokes, nothing. But she didn't like it when she needed to make this clear. She could be entertaining on demand, but it was sometimes hard to be taken seriously. "What did she say?"

A pause. Then Izumi sighed. "It was what she didn't say."

"I don't follow."

"I'm not going anywhere. But if you insist, you can lead."

"Izumi."

"I asked her if she did it. She wouldn't tell me. Either... she knows who did it, or... she didn't want to confess."

"She could have just lied if she wanted to."

"No. Inez doesn't lie."

Hikaru sighed and crossed her arms. If Inez knew who did it, she could just tell authorities now and be set off. Unless she wanted to protect whoever really did. And the only reason she'd want to do that... Hikaru didn't want to think about it. She wasn't some psychologist, even if she knew from Izumi how Inez's brain worked. It wasn't her job to determine Inez's motives. And even if she did kill Yurika, did she want to stand a chance on trial? Would she plead not guilty given the chance, even if she did? But she doesn't lie. Izumi just said that. If she was planning on pleading guilty, why would a confession worry her? Maybe... either Izumi didn't know Inez as well as she thought... or Inez was protecting someone by sitting behind bars now. Inez had to know something. She was the Explanation Lady.

"Izumi... I think you have to have faith." Hikaru gave Izumi a small smile. It was one of her reassuring ones, and though it was not mirrored, Hikaru knew it made all the difference. "You have to have faith in her. She knows what she's doing. She's knows just about everything. She may even know who's behind all of this. But you have to believe. I know in my heart that Inez has a plan. Whether that plan is good or bad, I don't know, but we can't just condemn her without knowing for sure, okay?"

A nod. A small, short, singular one, but one that made Hikaru grin. That nod meant Hikaru had gotten through to Izumi. Izumi would no longer speak in puns today. She may not speak much more for the rest of the day, but it would not be in puns. And that was so much better. Because then Hikaru didn't have to worry about both Jun and Izumi. Jun still, yes, but not Izumi.

And that was worth anything.

---

Uribatake hadn't come into work on Monday simply because he thought it would have been in bad taste. It wasn't because he was distraught about Yurika, or because he couldn't bear to see the faces of his employers and fellow employees because they were Nadesico crew too, but only because he thought it would look really bad to show on the first workday since the incident. Sure, it was a shame that Yurika was dead. It was horrible that she had been murdered. Uribatake, like the rest of the Nadesico crew, wanted Yurika to see justice. But shit happens, and there isn't anything anyone can do to change it once it happened. Uribatake pushed the passing thought out of his mind that someone could probably Jump back in time and stop Yurika from being killed, because it was too complicated to figure out and probably wasn't going to happen anyway.

But he did show the next day, and the second he walked through the front doors of Mugendai Headquarters, he believed he shouldn't have come today either. The Assistant Head of Security had given him a strange look, and he been talking to the receptionist when Uribatake had entered. Well, that meant Ryoko wasn't in, if that paranoid minion of hers was keeping too well of a close eye on who entered and left. And if Ryoko wasn't in, her girlfriend probably wasn't either.

Uribatake had been proven right as he stepped off the elevator at the top floor of the building. The door leading to Itsuki's office was shut tight, instead of wide open like both of the offices upstairs usually were. Minato had shown, though she didn't look so well. Her skin was somewhat more sallow, her face was devoid of her usual makeup, and she looked very tired. She was dressed in a gray that seemed to match the collective mood of the building, yet not black, as in mourning. She barely looked up when Uribatake had come in. She was busy working on something and didn't say a word. Uribatake just sighed and walked right into Gai's office. He, remarkably, was there.

Gai had reassured him that, while Itsuki was worried about what Yurika's death meant, work would go on as planned on their project. That being all Uribatake needed to know, he had left. Gai had also instructed him to check his mailbox, which is where Uribatake went after that. After gathering his rather small stack of company mail, he had headed to the cafeteria and gotten himself a coffee and a cereal bar from a vending machine.

And that had been Uribatake's morning before he even had the chance to sit at his desk.

He did eventually get to his own office, however, and set down his mail, coffee, and breakfast before slumping into his chair. He felt heavy and tired just by wading through all of the tension within the building and that top office upstairs. He felt like he was carrying a lot of weight on his back, when really he was just trying to drag it behind him, and even just wanted to drop it. At least now, Uribatake could just sit back and do whatever needed to be done without worrying about anyone being a little too preoccupied or anything.

He took a sip of his coffee and grimaced at the taste. Vending machine coffee always seemed bad. Rather than get up to throw it out, he wiggled the mouse on his computer, noting to go and get a soda later, if he was thirsty enough. After logging into his computer, he realized that he had left his messaging program up, and he already had a few messages from "Hikari Umitsubame". Uribatake sighed and checked his list of online friends. Yeah, Hikaru was still there. He answered her messages with a greeting of his own. "Hey, are you still there?"

It took a few moments before a reply came, but it came nonetheless. "Yeah, I am. Just got home a little while ago. Where were you?"

"I forgot I left this on at work on Friday. Where did you go?"

"I went with Izumi to Tokyo. She wanted to talk to Inez."

Uribatake, like the rest of the world, had heard of Inez's arrest on the evening news the night before. "How did that go?"

"Not as well as expected. Izumi thinks that Inez is guilty."

"But you don't."

"No. If anything, I think Inez may be protecting someone who really is guilty, but it's only a hunch." Uritabatake didn't get a chance to reply before another message rang up. "Enough about that. Did you check your mail yet?"

"No, I was about to. Why? Is something in it I should be looking for?" After sending the message, he glanced to the small pile of letters and reached for it, thumbing through them. Most of them were junk mail, a few were requests from upstairs on the design of the project, but one was from Nergal. Uribatake plucked it out and glared at it before his eyes went back to the message window he was sharing with Hikaru. It was blinking; Hikaru had answered his question.

"A Nergal invitation to Yurika's funeral."

Uribatake felt heavy again. Even in those words typed on the screen, Uribatake could feel Hikaru's sorrow, speculation, and even her own anger about the whole thing. And on top of feeling heavy once again, he felt guilty. Guilty that he wasn't as sad as everyone else about Yurika's death, guilty that he wasn't wasting his time thinking about what could have been if she was still alive, and most of all, guilty that he hadn't called or contacted his girlfriend after hearing about it. Hikaru had been friends with Yurika, anyway. He placed the envelope down and laid his hands over the keys again.

"Hikaru, I'm sorry I didn't call or anything. I just... Well, I don't know."

The response was quick, quicker than Uribatake had expected, but even perhaps a bit too quick. "It's all right. I've been busy trying to get Jun back together anyway. Are you going to go?"

"What, to Yurika's funeral?"

"Yeah. It's tomorrow and just outside Tokyo. Shouldn't be too much trouble."

Shouldn't be too much trouble, she said. She could see through him even when all he was supplying were letters and words in certain orders. He sighed. He felt very heavy, and very guilty. "Look, Hikaru, I know she was our captain and your friend and all, but I don't know. I just don't feel too overly upset about her being dead. I mean, it's not like we can do anything about it, you know?"

"I know." Another quick, almost too quick answer. "To be honest, she was my friend. It pisses me off that someone killed her, but I'm over that. I had to be. And right now... Yurika isn't who I'm worried about. I'm worried about those left behind, like Jun and Ryoko and Akito and all of them. Yurika is dead. I don't really think she'll be upset if we worry about ourselves and others still tied to this world instead of her right now. But... I want to give her my own goodbye tomorrow. Are you going to go?"

It took so long for Uribatake to make himself say it, but he knew the answer as soon as he finished reading the message. "Yeah. I'll be there."

"Good. Well, I can't be on too much longer. For all I know, Jun's already up and watching the news."

"I gotcha. I have to get busy too."

"All right, I'll either talk to you later or see you tomorrow."

"All right. Later."

"Later." Hikaru signed offline, and Uribatake sighed heavily. He didn't feel as bogged down now. Even though he knew he would feel really guilty and really bad tomorrow, he didn't now. He even felt optimistic. Maybe tomorrow wouldn't be so bad. Maybe, after tomorrow, people would lighten up a little. But Hikaru sure had tricked him into agreeing to go, hadn't she? During that whole conversation, Uribatake was sure he was offending her or something, but she ended up having a similar outlook on the situation. But she had still persuaded him into going.

What the hell was wrong with him? He was becoming as paranoid as Ryoko's assistant. He shook his head and had another drink of his disgusting coffee. That sure cleared his senses. All of this was screwing with his head. He hoped everyone would be better after tomorrow. He didn't think he could take much more of this tension and pussy-footing around.

---

Mari sighed in both relief and worry as she heard a knock on the door of her apartment. The intercom hadn't buzzed, but she gave it no thought as she leaned her broom against the wall and walked to the door. She looked out the peephole and called out, "Who is it?"

A head of blonde hair with a streak of red on the left, the head then turned around and a hand was placed at the mouth. "It's your rape victim, Mari. I'm here for an eye for an eye!" Mari growled under her breath and unlocked the door before throwing it open. Inside, she was laughing, but the last thing she needed was for sweet old Mrs. Weru or that one Ninlandish little girl on her floor to come up to her at the bus-stop tomorrow and asking either who that "young man" was or what rape was.

Yes, Saburota was standing there, looking as cocky and grinning as he usually did. He held up a hand in greeting. "Yo." He then did a once-over glance of Mari. "Wow, that has to be one of the least attractive things you've ever worn."

"Fuck you, Saburota," she whispered. She left the doorway, allowing Saburota to enter and close the door behind him. "I'm cleaning. I thought you were either the plumber or my mother."

"Ah, but I'm not the plumber. I'm not about to let my ass hang out of my pants all day. Too many people would be tempted to beat the hell out of it." Saburota walked right into the living room as if he owned the place and sat right down on her couch. Mari simply sighed and picked her broom back up, continuing to sweep the kitchen floor. It was a couple of minutes, but Saburota did eventually look back over his shoulder to where Mari worked diligently. "Wait... your mother?"

"Yes. She said she would be over to visit sometime this evening. I'm making eggplant and pepper sandwiches after I get done cleaning in here."

"Yikes. Maybe I should just give this to you and get out of here then. We haven't been going out long enough for me to meet your mother."

"But Mom is such a lovable woman." Mari looked around a bit, then put the broom in the space between the refrigerator and the wall. She then untied the hankerchief from her head, freeing her hair. "Besides, she might come when I'm in the shower, and I need someone to answer the door. What do you have for me?"

"Your mail." Mari's eyebrows knit together quickly and she walked down the steps leading up to the kitchen. Saburota held out a stack of envelopes and Mari swiped them out of his grasp. Before Mari could start yelling at him, he held his hands up in defense. "Hey, your landlord just stopped me on the way up here and told me to give them to you. I guess the mailman was late or something, and one of those needs to be read right away."

"And how do you know that? I doubt Ka-Jo told you all of this." She flipped through them. Bills, junk mail, and a paycheck. Which was odd, but not completely unheard of. She had gotten strangely timed paychecks before.

"Because one of them is from Nergal, and I got one too."

"Yeah, it's probably my paycheck. What did you get one for?"

"It's a funeral invitation."

Mari's anger stopped cold. She didn't need to ask whose funeral. There was only one person she knew even remotely who had died. Yurika's death had been unfortunate, but she didn't know her at all. There was nothing she had done to warrant an invitation to her funeral. Saburota getting one, well, that made a sort of sense. Saburota's mentor and best friend, now-Admiral Akiyama had become friends with Yurika's father. But she had little to no connection with Yurika.

"...Why did I get one?"

"Apparently all the Nergal big-names got one. The only one that can't show is Doctor Fressange for obvious reasons. And hey, you are a big-name, Mari. You bring in all of Nergal's entertainment revenue."

"And how do you know that?"

"I just do. I need to. And you've told me whenever Megumi Reinard's name is on TV."

Mari blushed. She was always a little jealous of Megumi. But she frowned at the envelope. "I don't think I should go."

"Why not? It'll be a good opportunity to schmooze with all the Nadesico crew."

"At a funeral? That's just wrong, Saburota."

Saburota merely shrugged. Mari frowned deeper before placing the mail on the counter. It was a cold thing to do, going to someone's funeral just to meet people and make friends. But people went to parties to do that all the time. And what was a funeral, if not a party celebrating the life of the dead? She sighed and opened the refrigerator to take out the proper ingredients for the dinner she planned to prepare. She realized then that she would need to take out more if Saburota would stay. She called out, not getting out of the refrigerator, "Hey, are you going to stay or leave?"

"I'll stay..." came the reluctant answer. Mari felt herself smile involuntarily. "But not for your mom. I'm only here to make sure that you don't have an affair with the plumber. What do you need him for anyway?"

"The bathroom sink is shot. And why would I be having a quick fuck with the plumber, Saburota? I'm not you."

"Hey, I have no plans to jump the plumber. I'm just saying that you might find his ass that he hangs out cuter or better than mine somehow. I want to be around to fight the guy so he doesn't stick you with his pulsating tube of beef."

"Ew. I think that has got to be the most disgusting thing I've heard anyone say for a long time."

"Really? Maybe I should get this all out of my system then, before your mother shows and I start ranting and raving about rabid cadavars playing humpy-humpy sewer games."

"Please. I don't need my mother sending me e-mails with links and pamphlets to mental institutions for you and myself."

"But then we'll get his and hers straightjackets!"

Mari didn't get a chance to scold Saburota before another knock came at the door. Mari took a deep breath. "Christ, I hope that's the plumber."

---

Lapis had some sort of insomnia, that was all she knew. Either that, or she didn't need as much sleep as she had before all of a sudden. She would retire to bed at a relatively early time, and toss and turn and possibly even fall into a half-doze before finally giving up in the early stages of morning and finding something to do. This was one such morning. Of course, it was insanely early, unheard of unless she had been planning on flying to Peaceland without a Jump Shuttle. Which she wasn't. But she was up regardless, though she showed no intent on getting dressed or doing any bathroom chores yet. In fact, she showed no intent on doing anything really. Her hands positioned above the nanomachine interface of her latptop, and her eyes wide and unseeing, she obviously had found something to do until dawn, at least.

After checking security and determining that nothing drastic had happened during the night, she began to check various stations for viruses or any other types of predators. She yawned. She often did this first because it was often boring, thus letting her finally be able to rest. She scanned over Hari's unit without a thought, and it was only after she had determined there was nothing wrong with it that she realized that it was Hari's. She paused, her brain fully awake now.

It had been nearly a month since she had last truly spoken to Hari. Sure, she had said hello, he had said hello back, or they may have worked together, but they have never really needed to talk. Their time on the Gardenia made that ability a necessity. But when he had last spoken to her, he had taught her about being human, that kindness was a virtue. And, inadvertantly, that that had been the source of Ruri's power. But no encounter with Ruri had happened since then, so she was not able to try this out. She frowned. Even though they had not really talked, something about the lack of Hari's incessant chattering was disconcerting.

Physically resettling herself in her seat, Lapis attempted to enter Hari's laptop. "Attempted" being the key word. Instead of getting in, a prompt appeared before Lapis's face, showing a frowning face. The message read, "Sorry! Unless you have the password, access is forbidden!"

"Oh, I see," Lapis grumbled. "He'll let me scan him for viruses, hackers, and spyware, but he won't let me see his files." Lapis sat back and thought for a moment. What would Hari's password be? Hari would be the sort of person to use a name. But whose was really the question here. His mother's? His father's? His own?

None of those seemed logical. Hari lived in the Nergal building now anyway, by his own choice and by the necessity of Doctor Fressange. Lapis knew about Hari being a Jump Test Subject, but she didn't say anything about it. Doctor Fressange had her own reasoning for what she did. Regardless, Lapis entered in the name of Hari's mother, Yori. Access denied. His father, Gempachi, then. Access denied. Hari? Access denied.

It had to be a name. Judging Hari's personality, it just had to be. It was just as simple as that. But whose name was the problem. Makibi. Access denied. Joshuyo, his mother's maiden name. Access denied. Gardenia. Access denied. Kaguya. Access denied. Ruri. Access denied. Omoikane. Access denied. Peaceland. Access denied. In frustration, Lapis entered her own name. It would only be yet another "access denied", after all. Lapis Lazuli. "Welcome, Makibi Hari!"

Lapis was physically jarred by this. Her own name? Why? That made no sense. She shook it off and glanced a bit through Hari's files. Music files from various artists. Lists of things he wanted for his birthday. Short video files from television shows. Various small game files. Website addresses. Nothing completely out of the ordinary. Lapis zoomed past these without regard. She had no idea what she was looking for. She didn't even know if she was looking for anything at all. She just kept looking, out of curiosity, she told herself.

But even in merely glancing at all the files and folders on Hari's laptop, it wasn't long before Lapis found something she actually stopped to take a good look at. It was a folder called "Thoughts". Lapis entered it tentatively, wondering what sort of files Hari would store in such a folder. There were many unrecognizable files inside, all with incomprehensible names. Well, Hari had to have a program to open these with. She waved a hand, and the files ordered themselves so that she saw the latest one. She mentally commanded it to open, and a message appeared saying that there was no program that could open the file.

But seconds after reading the message, Lapis physically covered her ears, slapping her hands to her head. It was like Hari was digging into her mind. She could hear his voice as if he was shouting in her ears. She could smell his soap and shampoo, overpowering. And yet, her eyes still stayed out of focus, electrical lights still playing in them, because she was still connected.

"I don't know if I have a place at Misumaru-san's funeral tomorrow. I didn't know her. She wasn't my captain. She was the Princess's captain. Is it because we are sort of like the Princess's decendants? Or is it because Misumaru-san was a Nergal employee, like we are? Either way, I don't think we should go. Or I should go. I've never been to a funeral. Especially not a Pentakami one. I don't know the customs. It may technically be my religion, but I don't know anything about it. Especially funerals. What if I do something wrong? Am I supposed to do anything? I don't like not knowing.

"Why did I keep saying we? Was I referring to all of us? I don't think so. I think... I may have been referring to me and Lapis. Gods, what's wrong with me? I haven't talked to her in a month. But then again, it is pretty hard when I'm the one that has to initiate all the conversations we have. It would just be nice for her to talk to me for once, instead of me trying to make the effort. And she's always accusing me of liking the Princess more than her. I never try to talk to the Princess. I may admire her, but I can't talk to her. I like talking to Lapis much more. Because... Well, I don't know why. I just can.

"Well, it's getting late. I'll be going to bed and trying to sleep. I know Lapis doesn't sleep. That makes me feel bad, as if I shouldn't sleep either, but I don't want to be disrespectful and fall asleep accidentally at Misumaru-san's funeral tomorrow. Good night."

Lapis took a breath. It seemed like the first time she had breathed since she began being overcome by the sense of Hari. Everything about her was him during that. Her thoughts were his, her scents were his, everything he saw, everything he felt, everything he was, she was, for a brief moment. It was... scary. And at the same time, powerful. It was so much more than when they synchronized on the Gardenia. It was... complete.

Lapis didn't know what to make of it. But there were literally hundreds of these same files in this folder. And apparently, they were only openable to Electronic Fairies such as herself, Hari, or Ruri. She pulled out of Hari's system, the Nergal network, and her own system, coming fully back to the physical world. She found her hands shaking. Her breaths were labored, as if she had run a race, and she was sweating profusely. It had been an intense experience, yes, but she didn't think it was that serious. But it was not a small thing, she knew that. For a few moments, she was two people. Herself... and Hari.

She stood and slowly stumbled back onto her bed, laying on it awkwardly. She fought to catch her breath as she made the lights dim themselves. This was no small thing. This was big. It stayed on Lapis's mind all through her troubled sleep. But she did sleep that night. Because not only was the experience intense, it had been somehow invigorating and even comforting.

It was as if Hari had reached into her body and touched her sense of self, and it didn't feel like a bad thing.

---

Minato sighed deeply as she looked herself over in the mirror. The dress she wore had only last seen use when Tsukumo died, and before that, during that long string of funerals on the Nadesico. With all those bad feelings attached to it, Minato hated the dress. But it was honestly the only piece of clothing Minato could afford to wear to the funeral. All of her other black dresses had good memories attached to them, like Megumi's wedding and when she and Yukina moved into their home. She didn't want to mar those memories with the memory of the day she said goodbye to one of her closest friends.

The rest of her looked better than it had all week. One would probably think she took great care to do her hair nicely and wear makeup because she wanted to look good in front of all her fellow former crew members, but this was not the case. If anything, Minato had been using her appearance to show how she felt about the whole thing. She went about her normal business everyday, but felt that she needed to let Yurika know how much her death hurt her. Yurika had been, truly, one of Minato's best friends. The thought of never seeing her smile again was frightening. Even so, the morning she heard the news, Minato knew she had to get past this the best and soonest she could. Yukina's words from when Tsukumo had been killed had haunted her. "I'd like you to act like an adult with responsibilities." So Minato did, going about her days with her usual schedule. But it didn't mean she couldn't mourn, and she always did in her own way.

Minato straightened the top of her dress once more and left her bedroom. No matter how she felt about this recent turn of events, Minato had people that depended on her. She had family. And she knew one big part of her family was probably hurting more than her. Minato stopped at Yukina's bedroom door and knocked. "Yukina," she called out, "are you decent?" After a muffled affirmative, Minato entered, noting the mess around the Jupiterian girl's room but not commenting on it. Yukina, she found, was on her tip-toes on a chair, digging in her closet for something. She wore her full length silver skirt, but appeared to have replaced the standard silver top with a black one. Her silver corset was wrapped around her torso, but the black ribbon that held it in place wasn't tied, let alone laced. She had no shoes on and apparently had already done her own hair.

Minato narrowed her eyes. "What are you looking for, Yukina?"

"My cloak; I can't find it. Have you seen it, Minato?"

"I'm afraid not. Hold on. Let me lace you up at least." Minato stepped over the piles of books, clothes, and shoes and walked to Yukina's chair. She shook her head as Yukina made motions to get down and laced Yukina's corset loosely. She frowned; it wasn't like Yukina to follow Pentakami customs so closely. Yukina only followed loosely. Sure, she had visited the church in Tokyo, she occasionally prayed but only when she wanted something, and she swore on Magus's name all the time. But following the rules to the letter?

Once Minato was finished, Yukina stepped down and quickly began searching a pile of laundry. Yukina tossed clothes around almost frantically. "I have to find it," Minato heard Yukina whisper as she moved on to another pile.

Minato stopped her almost immediately. "Yukina, it's all right. No one is going to be upset if you don't wear it. It's hot out; I doubt many of them will wear them. Yurika won't mind."

"Minato, you don't understand. It _has_ to go perfect. It has to be flawless. It just has to, for Kanchou's sake."

This threw Minato for a loop. "What are you talking about, Yukina?"

"Magus is vengeful, and we are both followers of Magus. But his weakness is love. It's one of the few things that he accepts now. Magus has to know how much we loved Kanchou, how much I loved her. It's a Pentakami thing."

"Where did you learn so much about this, Yukina?"

Yukina frowned and Minato regretted the question. Tears began to form in Yukina's eyes. "I... went to the church yesterday. I asked the priest for information on the afterlife. You know, I was just curious. But I found out something that... made me think, you know?" Yukina bit her lip.

Minato wasn't sure she wanted to ask, but she had to. "What did you find out?"

Another pause and a deeper frown preceded the answer. "Well, its a long story. But the long and short of it is that the only reason there are specified mages is because the Pentakami gods and goddesses give a piece of themselves to those that are fit for them, or if they have nanomachines in their blood. When that person dies, their patron god or goddess decide whether or not that person had experiences that will be beneficial to them. Magus favors those that had power. But since we released the Elemental Gods, I know that he has come to realize that love is a power too, and quite a powerful one at that. If we show Magus that we loved Kanchou, he will aaccept her rather than damn her. So I need to show I loved Kanchou very much by following Pentakami customs to the letter."

It was a lot for Minato to absorb, but once Yukina finished, she nodded. Yurika had been important to Yukina. Yurika was one of the first people aligned to Earth that had accepted and liked Yukina for who she was: a Jupiterian. For her to follow Pentakami procedures closely didn't seem so odd anymore. Minato glanced into Yukina's closet. "All right, I'm going to check your closet again for your cloak. You check your mess."

Yukina grinned. "Thanks, Minato."

It took only another twenty minutes before Minato found Yukina's cloak on the floor, but already Minato was worried about making it on time. The two of them walked quickly into the living room where Toju already sat, ready.

"What took so long?" he asked offhandedly, giving Yukina a quick look over. Yukina glared at him. Minato didn't need to be Megumi or a mage to know that Toju was wondering what the hell Yukina was wearing, and Yukina was daring him to ask. Minato sighed. This was not a good thing to be taking to the ceremony.

"We needed to find Yukina's cloak. Toju, I want you to understand. We are going to a Pentakami funeral for Yurika, okay? There are going to be Jumpers there: Earthling, Ninlander, Martian, _and_ Jupiterian."

"You want me to keep my mouth shut."

"Basically. I only ask for you to respect Yurika."

"All right, fine. Though I do want to know why I have to go in the first place."

"Magus," sighed Yukina.

With a glare at Yukina, Minato answered her brother. "Because I want you to meet the people that ended the war. I know how you stand on this issue, but I want you to know that the Nadesico crew are all great people. Besides, I'm your big sister and I said so." Minato crossed her arms, but she found that she could not smile. "Toju... this is hard for me. Yurika was one of my best friends. I need some support, all right? Please?"

With a large sigh, Toju nodded. "All right. What the hell. You driving?"

"Yes."

"Then let's go!" cried Yukina. Minato looked at her incredulously. Yukina tilted her head to the side. "I don't want us to be late," she whispered conspiratorically.

Minato nodded quickly, understanding. "All right, out of the house and into the car. We don't want Yurika to think we would be late to her funeral."

---

Lord Goldspring Othinakothe did not consider himself a lord at all. To him, the only reason he had that title was because his Excellency, Emperor Rumiko Adagio had handed it to him. He was much older than His Excellency, and had served the former emperor during his reign. But instead of inducting Goldspring into his own circle of advisors, Rumiko had decided to send him to Earth to establish one of the first Pentakami churches, in Tokyo, Japan. Goldspring had, at first, been angry, but he soon came to realize that this was as important, if not more so, than continuing his advising position. Here, Golspring was in a position of power all his own.

Despite this, there was one thing he could not deny, and that was that he had not held a funeral, or any ceremony at all, with as many visitors as that of Misumaru Yurika's funeral. Then again, Goldspring was Ninlandish, and he did not know the woman well. He did not understand how important one person could be to so many people. Frankly, he was just happy the press hadn't showed, and if they had, he was happy he didn't know about it. He was nervous enough as it was. He was already sweating because both the Emperor and Empress were there. The greater part of the Nadesico crew was present, and that was already a lot of people. There was also most of the more well-known names in Nergal and the UEAF, and on top of that, the two oldest heirs to Peaceland's monarchy. He already had to turn away people who were merely grateful for Yurika's part in ending the war, no matter how bad he felt about it. He was nervous enough with this many people. Bystanders and media would have just made it worse.

He cleared his throat, but not to get the attentions of the audience in front of him. They were already focused on him. He took a deep breath before beginning. There was nothing to this. It was no different. The only difference was that more people would be speaking, and he would have to make comments about how Yurika was killed instead of dying of natural causes. He could do this.

"Greetings, family and friends. It is unfortunate that we have needed to gather here, today, but here we are, nonetheless, to share our love for the dearly departed Misumaru Yurika, who had her life viciously stolen from her four nights past.

"What do we know of her? We may admire her. We may love her. We may have known her better than others. But one things is true. That one thins is that we are defined by those closest to us. And we, the followers of the Pentakami religion, believe that the funeral is our last chance to learn about those who have passed on. I now ask that childhood friend Onikirimaru Kaguya come to the podium and speak of Misumaru Yurika and what she meant to her."

Goldspring had already contacted each of the people he had planned on speaking at this ceremony: the two childhood cfirends, Onikirimaru Kaguya and Tenkawa Akito; the next of kin, Admiral Misumaru Kouichiro; the best friend, Subaru Ryoko; and the latest love and fiancé, Aoi Jun. So each was fully prepared ahead of time to speak before the crowd, so they knew what they would say. So he was not surprised to see the purple-haired woman in silver and black stand from her seat in the back and make her way up to the podium where he stood. He backed up and sat himself in the chair on the small platform he stood on. Kaguya took the podium, laying the pages in her hand on the podium. With a flick of a strand of hair over her shoulder, she began to speak.

"Since I'm first, I... want to take a moment to thank you all for coming. If there was one thing I know about Yurika, it was that she was a very sociable person, and I know she would have appreciated you all coming here.

"I don't really remember when I met Yurika. I was very young when we did. But... it's so easy to say that we were fast friends, but we were. Playing outside, sharing dolls, going to each other's houses... I remember my mother once saying that it seemed that we were inseparable.

"But... There was something that changed that. We couldn't have been friends more than a year when we met up with a boy about two years younger than we were. We befriended him as children do to all children somewhat near their age. I... regret this greatly, I assure you, but it was around that time we stopped being so close. Yurika began fighting Akito for attention, and he began fighting her to leave him be. After some time, I took a small childhood fancy of him myself. But I think... it might have been to get her attention. Whenever I had Akito alone with me, Yurika always became rabidly jealous. She may have been crying, screaming, pouting, or putting up her fists, but she paid attention to me then.

"Children have little choice in what happens in their lives. It wasn't too long before my family had to move back to Earth, where they had lived before I was born. I had to leave Akito and Yurika. I made Akito swear to keep an eye on Yurika. I... I didn't want her alone. Not if I could help it.

"Time passed, as it does. I... remember hearing that Yurika had moved to Earth, had attended to the UE Academy, and had become the Captain of the Nadesico. I did little to nothing about these things. I felt our time as friends was over with our childhood. But still, I joined the crew of the Gardenia in hopes of even getting a glimpse of her. I shouldn't have been shocked that she didn't remember me. But it hurt nonetheless.

"Sometimes... I wonder about if things were different. If I had contacted Yurika after she moved to Earth, would we have been friends to this day? Why did I study strategy myself? Some of these answers... are personal. But... I don't think anything could have changed what happened. Yurika's life would have still been cruelly taken. All it would have done was make it hurt even more than it did."

And that ended all that Kaguya had to say. Without a tear, or even a small fluctuation in that slight frown, Kaguya gathered her papers and left the podium, returning to her seat in the back. It was such a hasty, yet emotionless retreat that even Goldspring was surprised. Nevertheless, he took his position back at the podium for one sentence. "I now ask that childhood friend Tenkawa Akito come to the podium and speak of Misumaru Yurika and what she meant to him."

This one wasn't as abrupt as Kaguya. Goldspring felt that he recognized him a bit, but brushed the feeling away. It wasn't as if Akito was famous, but he had one of those faces you swore you had seen before. The taller man next to him squeezed his shoulder in reassurance. Akito nodded and stood up, walking to the podium with his back straight. He brought nothing with him, but took the podium from Goldspring.

He took a deep breath, and Goldspring could have sworn the air dropped several degrees in temperature. But there was no sign that Akito felt the change as he began to speak.

"I was born on Mars. I knew Yurika and Kaguya since I was about five or six... You know all that. But then... when Kaguya moved away, it was just me and Yurika.

"When I was little, it was obvious to me that Yurika had had a crush on me. But back then, girls were icky and had cooties. Of course," he added with a smile, "some would say that I still think that way. They wouldn't be too far off the mark. But... Yurika still took a lot of my firsts: my first kiss, my first friend, my first girlfriend...

"But the one thing about Yurika was that she did make my life brighter when we were kids. She may have gotten me in trouble, she may have totally grossed me out, but I wasn't alone. And when she left Mars for Earth, my parents died, and then I really was alone.

"I wonder what would have happened had I never been fired that night in October of '96. I wouldn't have been run off the road by Jun and Yurika driving crazily to get to Nergal Headquarters. I wouldn't have remembered her again. I wouldn't have made some of the best friends I've ever had, had she not forgotten that one picture of the two of us. But most of all... I never would have even been given that chance to get to know her.

"She chased me all up and down the damn Nadesico. All of you know that, and some of you may have been pissed off about it. I'm pissed off at myself, really. We went out once, right after Jumping away from Mars. But we had broken it off because Yurika thought me childish. Aqua. I really did prove it to her. For the longest time afterwards, she always wanted to start over, be friends, like we used to be. But... it never happened.

"I'm sure you're all wondering why it never happened. Well, I _was_ childish. She had hit right on the money before when she had broken up with me. I blamed her. How dare she call me childish and hurt me, and then expect to be friends? I... I didn't realize that that was part of getting over it. You get over bad things and stop worrying about them. They are done, over with, and you move on. Yurika understood that, and I couldn't.

"I'm sorry, Yurika. I... I never saw before. I'm sorry. I just... I hope you have it in your heart... to forgive me." Breathing out clouds of steam, Akito retreated slowly back to his seat, wiping his now reddened eyes. He sat back down and was greeted by the tall man next to him's arms, holding his head to his chest. Goldspring felt a bit warm inside, no matter how much the sudden cold made his fingers and joints ache. That was the kind of speech he had been looking for.

Goldspring returned to the podium to call up the next speaker. "I now ask that father Admiral Misumaru Kouichiro come to the podium and speak of Misumaru Yurika and what she meant to him." Misumaru had been seated in the front and, with a small nod, stood and took Goldspring's place. He cleared his throat loudly before speaking, seeming to be delaying this the most he could.

"Well. There are a few of you I recognize and remember, and a few that I don't. As... I'm sure that most of you are aware, Yurika was my daughter. There may be some of you that knew of Yurika before knowing of me, and may think that Yurika may have not been my child at all. That... that was because she was almost exactly like her mother, Akiko. Beautiful, intelligent, stubborn... Unfortunately, Yurika never got a chance to get to know her mother.

"Once Akiko passed away... Yurika was all I had. She was an only child, and I had to raise her alone. I... I always wondered, everyday, whether I was doing the job well or not. After all, how can a father raise a little girl alone? Even now, in this day and age, it's practically unheard of. There are all sorts of subjects that come up that you have to deal with... Puberty, cute boys, dolls, dresses... and that's just a slice. But, whenever I wondered, Yurika was always there, ready to give me that smile that told me that yes, I was doing fine. Even... during that hard time right after we left Mars for Earth, she was there to give me that smile. I'm sure it was probably her magic that made her aware that I needed reassurance, but before we were aware at all that a different set of higher powers were at work in regards to Yurika, it had its own magic that helped me go on.

"I... I'm sure that this is considered a horrible cliché, but its true. For anyone who hasn't experienced it, that's all that it is, a saying, a cliché. But... for any parent, burying a child is the worst thing anyone could feel, experience. Especially if... that child had been anything like Yurika.

"Yurika was... perfect. She had such wonderful grades as a child, was always so sociable. She always went out of her way to make someone, anyone feel welcome in her life. I remember... I remember that I always wanted to have a family. I tried my best to provide for Akiko and Yurika. I never wanted to have Yurika need to work as hard as I did. But she wanted to. She went to classes at the UE Academy of her own accord. She always said it was because she wanted to be her own person. What she never realized was that she already was, and everything she ever did established that."

It was with that statement that Kouichiro left the podium and the stage. Once at his seat, he crossed his arms, allowing one hand out to hold his forehead. The speech seemed to have drained him.

Goldspring stood and leaned over the podium for his one sentence to call up the next speaker. "I now ask that best friend Subaru Ryoko come to the podium and speak of Misumaru Yurika and what she meant to her."

There was a long period of nothing. Absolute silence, no movement. Goldspring was beginning to worry. He had been able to call Tenkawa Akito, Subaru Ryoko, and Aoi Jun at once, but maybe he hadn't made it very clear that he had wanted Ryoko as well. Well, then, he would have to skip on over to Jun. Goldspring was just about to open his mouth to call Jun up to speak when a head two-colored hair- black and green- rose up slowly from around the same area as Akito had come from. Upon seeing the green and black of the woman's clothing, Goldspring put two and two together. This must be Ryoko. She stood up enitrely and worked her way out of the aisle she sat in, but had to stop suddenly. The violet-haired woman sitting next to her, who surprisingly looked very similar to Kaguya, had a hand on her green cloak, gripping it and not showing signs of allowing Ryoko to go up to the little stage and podium. Ryoko, however, was able to unlatch her fingers and made her way up to where Goldspring still stood. She walked awkwardly, as if not used to the full-length green skirt of her Pentakami robes, but still made it up there, though she appeared to already be in tears. Goldspring sat immediately to let Ryoko take the podium and speak.

Ryoko leaned against the podium, resting her arm on the bottom edge and her elbow on her hand. She held her forehead and was silent for quite a long time. All that could be heard from her were little breaths that showed that she was still alive, and even crying. She finally took a deep, long breath and wiped her eyes vigorously, uncovering her face. "I'm sorry," she began. "I'm... I'm sorry. Just... I'm sorry." She shook her head, the aqua green ends of her shaggy hair brushing the green collar of her cloak. "I... I don't even know why I'm up here. This guy... this guy behind me called me 'the best friend.' According to all the records, people think that I was Yurika's best friend. I mean, it makes sense and all. She asked me to be her Maiden Assist for her wedding, and not just because she would be marrying my stepbrother, she said. She said she could trust me. But... how could I be considered her best friend?

"Yurika has... a lot of friends. All of you, you all her friends. You may have just been on the ship and heard her name over the intercom, you may have just seen her in the cafetera... you may not have even been there and saw her at Nergal Headquarters, or maybe you saw her working at Peaceful Days. But you all knew her somehow, and you all were her frieds. She was... very friendly. With everyone. Even if you treated her like crap, she still wanted that friendship with you.

"Meg," she interrupted herself, holding a hand out to the Empress who sat in front. Empress Megan Adagio did not look surprised. She merely bit her lip. "You remember how it was? After you stopped chasing Tenkawa around? Yurika took that concession and thought nothing of it. She didn't shove him in your face when she got him, she didn't even bring up your rivalry. She just went out of her way to be friends with you after that. Minato, you remember how she wanted to go after those guys once they shot Shiratori?" Now, Minato, who sat in an enitrely different section altogether, had to looked down. "And after that... she would have done anything to help you out with Yukina. Junny, you've been by her side longer than anyone else. You've helped her more than anyone here. Yet still, I'm her best friend? Tenkawa, you guys have known each other for ages. Hikaru, you shared a room with her for... Terra, forever. You knew about how she felt about sweaters and being cold. You knew everything that the rest of us couldn't pry out of her. Izumi, you had to help her deal once Akatsuki died. Yet, somehow, the papers still say that I am her best friend. Over all of that. Do you not see how this doesn't make sense?

"Maybe it was because she trusted me. Even while we were on the Nadesico... she would come up to me at the most random times looking for advice or a shoulder and a listening ear. I don't even know why. I treated her like garbage for half of the war. We were two women in positions of power, and we had to compete a lot, even though she was my superior. But she trusted me with what she couldn't trust to Tenkawa, or Junny, or even... Hikaru. She couldn't trust Meg or Minato with the biggest thing of her life, her marriage. But she could trust me. Terra, how the fuck do I rate?

Ryoko shook her head. "I don't know. I don't think I'll ever know anymore. Even so... I was going to try. I wanted to be able to be informed. I wanted to be Yurika's friend. Terra-dammit, we were going to have dinner the day after she was killed!" She shook her head. "I hope whoever killed her is happy. They ruined someone's life, so many people's lives, and all that's going to happen from now on is a whole bunch of speculation. How could it have been better? What could we have done? Questions we would never have had to ask before this. And do you know why? Because Yurika would have made it better. She would have made it clear that no matter what, she was willing to stick her neck out and do whatever it took to be friends with everyone from all walks of life. There could _be_ no other like her. No one ever cared as much as she did about everyone, and not just those she was close to."

That was all that entailed Ryoko's speech. She needed no prompting to leave the stag, but rather than being sad like the others as she went to sit back down, she was very angry, and there was a tad bit of rumbling in the ground below them, corresponding to the stomps her feet made as she trudged back to her seat. Goldspring hadn't felt it however. Instead, he stood at the podium, shaking a little himself. He had almost forgotten that this was not just a funeral for an old person who had affected a lot of people. This was a woman who was still young and had her whole life ahead of her... only to have it snatched away. It made the other speeches seem... bland in comparison. Because they were truly about how they loved Yurika, and not just about how angry they were. But no, that Messenger of Terra's was different. She was in a rage over Yurika's death, a state many of the others had moved out of. It was raw emotion, and it was a bit frightening.

Nonetheless, Goldspring had to call up the final speaker of the ceremony. "I now ask that fiancè Aoi Jun come to the podium and speak of Misumaru Yurika and what she meant to him."

All of the other speakers' approaches showed either what the felt, or what they would say. Even then, it was easily categorized among sadness, anger, and apathy. Not Jun. He was as abrupt in his approach as Kaguya, but at the same time, he appeared to be wanting to sit back with his housemates, such as Ryoko. But walked he did down the aisle between the two sets of chairs, blue-haired head tilted down a bit as a slight breeze brushed his red cloak about. It was solemn, mournful, but at the same time, it was frightening. Goldspring almost forgot to relinquish his position at the podium as Jun arrived there.

Jun gripped the sides of the podium with white knuckles, and glared down into its wood as if willing it to run away. He sucked his bottom lip into his mouth before looking out to the visitors with tear-blurred eyes. "I loved her," he whispered, then cleared his throat. He sniffed once and took a deep breath, which quickly turned into a sob. "I loved her!" he cried out loudly, his voice cracking. No one said a word as this man draped himself on the podium sobbing and crying. Goldspring noticed that the redhead in yellow near where Akito, Ryoko, and Jun had sat had stood, but Goldspring held an arm out, motioning for her to stay where she was. She glared at him, and the air around the shrine seemed to move just a little faster. But that did not stop the heat, which seemed to have been a hundred times worse than it had been before the ceremony. Goldspring unconsciously unlatched his cloak but, realizing his error and with a look at Emperor Adagio, he reclasped it.

"I loved her more than anything," said Jun slowly, his gripping sobs seeming to have died down a bit. He rested his head on his crossed arms, biting his lip and frowning at the ground below the stage. "Even when I first saw her in school, I was entranced. She had been so beautiful... I think I loved her then too. I may have always loved her. But... But now she's... gone. Forever. No more smiles, no more proclamations of 'being herself', no more laughter, no more hugs or kisses... not even any glares or screaming. Just... nothing. I can't... Yurika can't be nothing. She just... can't. I love her." He shook his head violently and scrunched up his face, appearing to try to not burst into tears anymore. The breeze blew a small leaf onto the podium, and it did not go unnoticed to Jun. He picked it up and stared at it. Then it erupted into flame quickly, disintegrating in between Jun's fingers. Several of the visitors jumped back in shock, although Goldspring merely narrowed his eyes. Akito and Ryoko had mentioned how distraught Jun was on the phone, and that as a fire mage, he may try something. But this was so small scale.

Regardless, the muscles in Jun's back relaxed and he sighed, possibly in relief. He even visibly slackened, but he did not leave the stage. Instead, he glared out into the audience. "I hope whoever did this is happy. I hope you're happy. We finally were going to be together, the way it was supposed to be. I had finally won her over. We were going to be married. We were going to have a life together, grow old, and live in a usual daily life. We were going to be happy! Flamma... I hope you're happy. We had already gone through so much together. Going through the Academy, the Lizard War, all of that on Ninlan and after she decided to break off her relationship with Erina... I was there. How _dare_ you take her from me? Everything I ever depended on, everything I loved, all of that... my whole future as I planned it and now it is _gone_. I hope you are fucking happy." Jun rubbed his fingers together, possibly to rub away any of the ashes they may lay between the pads of his fingers, and left the stage and podium. There was absolute silence as he walked down the aisle between the two sets of seats to the row that his housemates sat in. Not even any of his housemates said anything, though they, like everyone else, watched him without attempting to hide it. Once Jun had seated himself again, the redhead that had been sitting by him laid a hand on his knee and squeezed it. She gave him a small smile before opening her arms out. He almost immediately fell against her torso, resting his head on her breasts. She patted his head maternally, brushing fingers through his hair.

Goldspring watched this display of reassurance and attention awkwardly. Needless to say, Jun had obviously been the one most hurt by this. While when Akito was up and speaking, the temperature of the area had dropped. While Jun had been simply walking up, it had risen above and beyond what it had been originally. Suddenly, Goldspring felt the Emperor's eyes on him, most likely having just slid off the distraught fire mage in the other set of seats. It was with that glance of a look over his Excellency's dark frames that Goldspring realized that, despite how distraught one person was, he needed to complete the funeral ceremony. With shaky legs, he stood and took the podium once again. With a deep breath, he began the completion as if it had been written into his head long ago.

"Despite what happens to us in life, we must remember that it is our love and memory of those we care for that makes them continue on living. Misumaru Yurika was loved by many, but at different degrees. She has been described in many ways today, whether she was the perfect daughter, or a door to the future, or a question of past actions. We must keep in mind that life is short and easily stolen, and remember Yurika in our hearts to keep her spirit alive and sound. And in respect to the one that showed us so many ways to make one appear, we bid goodbye." Goldspring let go of the edges of the podium, clapped his hands together and let his middle and ring fingers curl downward, his hands forming that of the Pentakami prayer. Lips to the knuckles of his thumbs, he closed his eyes and bowed deeply, signaling the end of the ceremony. Those in the audience began to stand and talk amongst themselves, some on their way to leave, others on their way to meet up with others, and some possibly to even see the marker for Yurika's grave.

---

There was a lovely, sloping hill that looked over the shrine. On days when the only visitors were tourists, student photographers, or artists, it was almost always crawling with people. But today, when the only ones around had arrived in honor of the late Misumaru Yurika, it was mostly empty. Everyone was mostly still among the many chairs they had been sitting in during the actual ceremony. Now that it was over, it seemed to be more of a place for others to go to get away. At least... that's why Ruri was sitting at the base of the single tree there, not caring if the grass and dirt soiled her mostly white skirts. She sat with her legs straight out in front of her, her hands clasped her in her lap as she leaned her head against the tough bark of the tree. She was almost prepared to doze off when she had a feeling that someone watching her. She cracked one amber eye a bit and was prepared to tell Ariko to leave her alone when she saw the telltale black dress of someone she could not bring herself to order away: Minato.

"Yes?" she queried, her annoyance tainting her stoic tone. She inwardly cringed. Was she already breaking her vow to not show her feelings?

"I just wondered how you were doing. I didn't see you upset at all during the ceremony."

"I didn't feel it necessary." At Ruri's response, Minato narrowed her eyes. Apparently, this was not the answer Minato was wanting, reaching for, or even asking for.

"Why not? I thought Pentakami custom said that... the funeral is the last chance to show any love for the deceased, necessary or otherwise?"

"I just didn't want to."

"Honestly, Ruri. I thought you had a little more respect for Yurika than that. You aren't sad, you aren't morose, all you are is sarcastic. What's wrong with you?" Minato crossed her arms and glared at Ruri.

Ruri just sighed again and pulled her legs up so that her knees were bent and only her butt and feet touched the ground. She rubbed her forehead, feeling another headache coming out of this. "Minato, I am very sad about what happened to her. More sad than you know. Sad and upset and angry... I don't even know how to describe it all. But... I can't just let myself show it. Not when everyone else is equally upset. I don't want to worry them, and besides, it's the best alternative."

"I would think that your lack of emotion would worry us more. I only came to ask because I had expected you in tears, yet there was nothing."

"Look, I've already explained this to Omoikane when he objected -"

"Ruri, I'm not Omoikane. I haven't heard your reasons. Why are you reverting back to how you were before? What could possibly be worse than that? Yurika would not have wanted you to be this way because of her death."

Ruri frowned deeply and pulled herself to her feet. Why was everyone saying that? How do they know what Yurika would have wanted? How would they have known? It seemed like everyone was an expert on their former captain except her, and that they were perfectly capable of ordering her to take other courses of action to deal with just how upset she was, no matter whether they were disastrous to her or not. She felt helpless. No one seemed to agree with her. She clenched her fists and she walked away a small bit, the muscles in her back tightening. She spun around and glared at Minato, causing the older woman to take a small step back in shock. "Why is it," Ruri began, her voice venomous, "that everyone seems to know what's best for me? Shouldn't I know? I don't want to go through most of the other alternatives. I know disregarding how I feel makes me all right, workable, and easier to live with when I am upset. Why can't any of you let me be?" Ruri stopped, taking in several deep breaths. She needed to keep her vow to not show emotion. She didn't care if she upset Minato. No one was even attempting to try to understand why she was doing anything she did. It was always "Yurika wanted this" or "Pentakami says that." No more. "Do all of you _want_ me to slap my mother across the face and run away from home?"

The most immediate reply to Ruri's outburst was Minato knitting her eyebrows. Then she sighed and tilted her head to the side, a small smile adorning her face. Ruri was confused. Was Minato saying that those things would be better? All those different things she knew could probably come about as a result of the combination of her home life and Yurika's death, if she didn't put her emotions on disregard... Minato thought that they were better choices? Ruri thought Minato cared enough for her that she would understand, but obviously not.

"And why would that be a bad thing?" asked Minato, breaking through Ruri's thoughts as they grew ever more sorrowful. If anything, this question seemed to be a confirmation of everything Ruri was thinking of; Minato really did think that running away, hitch-hiking, and breaking laws and doing drugs were better choices than ignoring her emotions. "You've already 'left' home once, remember? You went to live with those in Kawasaki for a while. And quite frankly, I would think a good hit upside the head would do Her Majesty some good in getting a hold of her senses." Minato put her hands on her hips and smiled brightly at Ruri, as if trying to entertain her. "Ruri, you've grown so much since you first came onto the Nadesico. You've let yourself be able to show emotions, and you've learned that it is not a weakness to do so. Reverting back to the way you were before that... That cannot possibly be the best way to go. Do you really think Yurika would want that? For you to lose what you fought so hard to achieve, willingly?"

Ruri looked away. Minato... had a point. Just like... "Omoikane said the same," she whispered slowly. She didn't want to do this. She didn't want to give up what she had gained, the ability to smile and not feel like an idiot. She didn't want to give any of that up.

"And still... you intend to do this?" Minato sighed and ran a hand through her long tresses. "Honestly, Ruri. You... need to let your feelings go. Don't bottle them up. Don't let yourself live in sorrow. When Tsukumo died... I let them go. I came to terms with my emotions and sadness, and I let them go."

Ruri frowned, and looked back at Minato with a slight glare. She had heard all points of this tale many a time, and practically knew every detail of it now. "Yukina had to tell you to grow up and accept responsibility."

Minato covered her mouth with a hand and laughed softly. "Oh, Ruri. Growing up and accepting responsibility is part of dealing with your emotions. Neutralizing them," she held her arms out to the pale girl, "or shoving them away is not. It's degenerative to everything you've accomplished since you came onto the Nadesico. It's childish, and you are not childish."

That hit Ruri's heart, no matter how much she hated to admit it. She had tried so hard to grow up so fast that she hadn't let herself see that her own decisions were childish, immature. Omoikane tried to tell her, but she had not listened. And now that she had Minato telling her the same, she could do nothing but acknowledge it as truth. Ruri felt tears welling up, finally. Tears for the tragedy of Yurika's death, tears for what she nearly let herself do to herself, and tears for her harsh treatment of Omoikane, her best friend in the world.

Minato seemed to know exactly how Ruri felt then, as she closed the distance between them with a soft coo. "Oh darling Ruri..." Ruri felt an arm around her stomach, a hand at one temple and a pair of lips at the either, and a warm torso against her arm. Ruri squeezed her eyes shut and twisted herself around to wrap her arms around Minato's waist tightly. Finally, she was able to let herself cry.

It was several minutes of Ruri's soft sobs and Minato's fingers running through her silver tresses before she was able to pull herself away from one of the few she respected most, normally fair face red as she wiped stray tears from the corners of her eyes and sniffed. Minato bent down and smiled at her. "See, that wasn't so bad, was it?"

Ruri let her mouth form a small smile and she gave a slight nod. Then she realized something. "Minato... You haven't been upset either."

Minato hummed and stood straight up again, placing a hand at her hip and staring off into the mostly clear sky. "I made my peace with her during the ceremony. You may not have noticed, but I was in tears through most of that. But... do you remember how Yurika used to read everyone's mind without permission, and was able to make anyone feel good about themselves or talk to them that way?" At Ruri's nod, Minato continued. "Well, I may not have been allowed to speak in front of everyone, but I was able to tell Yurika how I felt about her, made promises, and wished her well. I said it all in my head, and, well... I know she heard me. And I know that she would have wanted me to keep an eye on you"

"You mean... I can come stay with you?"

"Well, if your parents said it was okay, then sure, but... Mostly I want to make sure you're happy. I know... you talked and called upon Yurika and Akito mostly when you were upset, and if Omoikane and Ariko couldn't help you. But... I want you to let me help you anyway I can. Is that all right?"

Ruri nodded. It was nice to know that she would still have people to rely on, even with Yurika dead. Maybe... that's what Omoikane wanted her to realize all along.

Well, she knew one thing she would have to do once she arrived at home: apologize to Omoikane, and make sure he knew he was still needed.

---

Empress Megan Adagio of Ninlan was not merely empress of the planet Ninlan, nor was she just a master signature reader. But one thing she most definitely was not was simply a self-proclaimed psychic. She may not have been able to contact the dead or be able to predict the future, but she had some certain abilities that those without nanomachines in their blood would not normally be able to do, such as probe a magically trapped mind, or be able to sense a mage coming near her. It was the latter that caught her attention now as she looked down from the hilltop where she stood, black skirts ruffling slightly in the wind that had begun to pick up. It wasn't a natural wind, but it brought a sense of chill and busy mixing bowls to her lobes, and she closed her eyes. Akito was climbing up the hill to either enjoy the view himself, or speak with her. After all, she was the only other one up here, surprisingly.

"Hello," she called out softly, knowing he would hear, but also knowing that the greeting was not friendly in any sense of the word. It dripped of questions. Why are you coming up here? What do you want? Megumi did not want to be unkind, but she did not feel that kindness had a good base for any sort of speech between the Ninlan Empress and the Martian cook and cashier from Peaceful Days.

"Hey." Her greeting's match was heavy, leadened by the situation of this meeting. Had this been any other time, such as a quick visit from the Imperial couple to Peaceful Days as they may have done in happy times, Megumi knew that Akito would have asked what the hell was up with her tone. But such as not the case. Instead, this was, simply, a sad acknowledgement of Megumi's acknowledgement of his presense. Thinking this way made Megumi's head hurt.

Akito climbed the hill and stood beide the former voice actress, shoving his hands into the pockets of his light blue slacks. And he stood silent. He appeared to be watching those still congregated near the building of the shrine itself with great interest. Megumi wondered if he really did have some sort of interest in what Uribatake and Hikaru were talking about, or how both Ryoko and Gai hugged Jun, or how Genichiro didn't talk at all to Rumiko, or even how Rumiko seemed preoccupied. Though Megumi wasn't sure Akito could tell that. All her husband was doing was sitting and stroking his chin as he stared at the ground. He was busy thinking, though about what, Megumi couldn't begin to guess.

"You can really see everything up here," Akito interrupted the silence and Megumi's thoughts.

"Huh?" she responded with initially, then winced. She could have at least thought before opening her mouth.

"Yeah... you can see the temple and the grounds around it... and where the tombstones are..." Akito pulled his hand out of his pocket and pointed to all the places he indicated. But once he mentioned the rows of memorial stones, he was reluctant to point in that direction. He sighed heavily, and his hand retreated back into his pocket.

Megumi thought back to his display during the ceremony. His was heartfelt, she knew. Of course, one could say they were all heartfelt, but she had a feeling some of them had been long rehearsed to be said with the least amount of emotion to spare themselves humiliation. Akito's was not. Everything he said, about how Yurika drove him absolutely insane, and how guilty he felt about not being her friends, was what he felt about her passing. regret, guilt, but yet with something to look back on and possibly smile. Yet here he stood, he slouched stance practically begging Megumi to say something to him.

She didn't get the chance, as once again Akito's voice broke the soft silence between them. He pointed down into the seats. "Looks like Rumiko is really giving it to that Goldspring guy."

Megumi stopped watching Akito's cornflower cloak flap in the breeze and glancing to the nearby moutntain peaks and turned her gaze down into the seating. As soon as she did, she flinched; Akito appeared to be right. Rumiko in silver and black appeared to be having an animated discussion with Goldspring. Megumi fought the urge to let herself stomp down the hill's slope and relieve Goldspring of Rumiko's anger and nodded tensely. "I suppose he was a little more upset than I thought about how the ceremony played out."

"Why? I didn't think there was anything wrong with it, in comparison to Akatsuki's funeral."

"That's just the thing; all you have as a basis of comparison is Akatsuki's funeral, and in Pentakami customs, that was a crude one. Rumiko's had to study all of the customs, legends, stories, lessons, traditions, and such since he became emperor and the head of the church. He's also had to teach the other priests and priestesses, not to mention perform many weddings and funerals in Carmina himself. I've seen quite a few, and something was certainly missing from this one. And if I could feel it, you can believe that Rumiko knows what it is."

"Do you know, then?"

Megumi clasped her hands behind her. "Not entirely. But I think it might have to do with the fact that, well... Yurika wasn't very religious, was she?"

"Could you blame her?"

"Of course not. But because of that, she wasn't well known by the Tokyo church, and thusly, not by Goldspring. So the ceremony, while touching, seemed to be missing a... personal touch."

Akito scoffed and shook his head, withdrawing his hands from his pockets to fold his arms across his chest. He shifted his weight to his other foot. He seemed very annoyed, annoyed beyond words. Then he turned to Megumi and held a hand out to the chairs and pedestal and podium far below them. "Did you not fucking see Ryoko? Me? _Jun?_ I can't speak for Yurika's dad or even for Kaguya, but by Aqua, those... _those _were heartfelt and personal."

"I wasn't just talking about you, Tenkawa." Her normally sweet, slightly accented voice dripped with acid as she stuck her nose into the air and frowned. Then she glared at Akito. "I was talking about Goldspring's opening and closing. That is what Rumiko would be upset about. They seemed to be standard, cookie cutter. Not something for someone who has lived in this area for a while should be getting, and not someone as well known as Yurika. And, if I were you, I would think twice before swearing to me."

Megumi expected Akito to retaliate, to argue, but it did not come. His arms fell to his sides and he looked down into the grounds of the shrine. "I'm sorry," he apologized, surprising Megumi enough to cause her to let go of her indignation. "It's just... It's been really hard for us. All of us, really, but mostly Junny. Aqua, he loved her. He loved her more than anything else in the world, and he lost her. It's... It's just so tragic. You can't help but... want to help him." Akito sighed deeply and sat down unceremoniously, shifted immediately after to move his cloak out from under him.

It was... so very much like him. Akito had barely changed at all. Or at least... he never seemed to have stopped caring about those close to him. Megumi remembered when she had birthed a crush on this Martian. She had been mourning the loss of the population of Satsuki Midori, but his loss was on a much smaller scale. He had lost what was then his best friend, or at least he thought he had lost him. And though he was sad that Gai had been supposedly dead, he was more upset that no one else was upset. It was a side of the cook that Megumi thought had long since died, but as she could see now, still lived on.

Megumi let out a very small smile and held her skirts underneath her as she joined him in the grass, ignoring the possibility of any stains or bits of grass that may soil her dress. It was just so like that one day in October, nearly a full three years ago. "Soemtimes people just need to hide their feelings," she had said. She had no idea how true that rang, even now. Sometimes... people didn't even know that they were hiding what they felt until it was too late. Take Akito, for example. He had fought and argued with Yurika, almost until her dying day. He hadn't even realized that he had wanted what Yurika had as well until it was far, far too late. But was he honest, or did he just think of anything to say up on that stage, before those that had loved Yurika as well?

"I wonder... do you really feel that way, Akito?" she whispered softly, but she was sure the Martian heard her.

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

She frowned. He still wasn't the brightest crayon in the box, though. "What you said about Yurika... how she wanted to be your friend, and you wished you had accepted. Do you really..."

"Yes." Short, simple, and nothing more than what Megumi asked for. Akito pulled his knees up to his chest, and picked a stray blade of grass off his pants. "I wish I had been her friend. Instead of fighting all the time, I mean. I mean... Look, I love Gai and all, and I adore my friends, but... I noticed that in doing so... I sort of alienated everyone on the Nadesico that had had some sort of crush on me that wasn't Ryoko or Gai. You and Yurika... Well, you hated me because I went gay, but Yurika... I pushed her away myself. I think that's why it hurts so much, that she tried so hard to let us just be friends and I utterly refused."

Megumi bit her lip. That... had been what started her loathing of Akito, wasn't it? Her conservative upbringing coming to light in her refusal to accept a homosexual as a friend. But... She had defied it all, otherwise. Why had she let one thing she had kept from her family change something in her life that could have gone just as well as the rest of it? She narrowed her eyes. That didn't matter anymore. She may have been an Earthling, but as empress, she had come into the Pentakami religion unknowing and now she was about as devout as the next Ninlander. And one thing that Pentakami did was accept with open arms homosexuality and bisexuality, given how Magus courted Terra, in legend, and how often Aer attempted to court Flamma. Her conservative childhood had dissolved in her beliefs. So why had she still such a dislike for Akito?

"...I don't think I hate you," she said, and was surprised. She hadn't expected to say it, or even think it, but there it was. She let herself contemplate it shortly and discovered that any dislike or hate she had for Akito was baseless now, and she never had realized it before.

"Really?"

Megumi nodded slowly. "I hadn't realized that until I just said it, but really... any reason I had for not liking you as a person is, really... just really illogical. No reason for it at all. And... I don't to be one of those people that just doesn't like someone for no reason."

"Wow. That, uh... makes what I wanted to do a lot easier." Akito scratched the back of his head.

Megumi turned to him and looked at him as if he just said he had the greatest plan to take over the universe and turn everyone into a marionette. "Oh?" she responded cautiously. She had little idea what he meant, and she wanted to know before she agreed to anything at all.

"Yeah. See, all that I had said about Yurika... I meant it. I... I really regret not being friends with her in the end, and it made me think. There is still one girl that I don't get along with, that I did once with, that... Megumi, you know what I'm tryin' to say, right?"

"You... want to be friends with me, like Yurika wanted with you?"

"Yeah. I know, you could not possibly be a replacement for Yurika but... I would be able to sleep better. It's really selfish of me to ask, but... can't we just put things aside?"

Megumi smiled, and Akito seemed relieved to see that curve of her darkly painted lips. "I'd like that," she answered. "I think we can put things aside and agree to be... friendly."

"Aqua, Meg, you have no idea..." Akito suddenly wrapped his arms around her shoulders, surprising her and almost causing the two of them to roll down the hill.

"A-Akito!"

"Aqua, I'm sorry Meg, you okay?"

"I will be once you let go of me!" He promptly released her and she stood, brushing dirt and grass from her butt on her dress. He seemed a little saddened and even a little mortified. Megumi realized that he indignant empress tone was in play again, and let herself smile at its effects on even those she knew well. She held out a hand to Akito, offering to help him up. "Come on, Akito. Let's go tell Rumiko to leave Goldspring the hell alone."

Akito mirrored her smile and took her hand. Her smile grew bigger with his acceptance of her aid. She knew that he was serious, that he was sincere, and that maybe, just maybe, they really could be friends. She only hoped this new relationship would allow Yurika at least a bit more rest, until her killers were found and put to justice.

---

Misumaru Yurika. June 12, 2176 - July 6, 2199. A daughter, a sister, a friend, and a lover, she will be remembered.

Flamma, how it was true.

Jun sighed deeply as he stared at the simple marker for Yurika's grave. It was in close proximity to the one marked as Yurika's mother, and was very similar to it in size and shape. But, as was Pentakami custom, it was adorned with thick, round, gray candles, made to stand burning for quite some time. Pentakami legend said that the gravestone was the connection between the living world and that of the Gods, where the spirits of the Pentakami followers were judged either by their god, or all of them at once, as to whether they will join the collective energy of memories and lessons to be passed back into the reincarnated. However, some spirits were not able to find their bridge to this other world, and so candles were put out on the grave markers of the passed to light their way. Yurika's candles, as it was still the middle of the afternoon, were unlit. Jun swallowed and bent down a bit, waving a hand over the several wicks that stood tall and awaiting some sort of flame. And flame they received, their white tips quickly blackened as the air around the candles seemed to take on a soft red tinge. The color was gone, however, just as soon as Jun noted its existence, and he ignored it.

He watched the small fires twist and contort to match the soft breeze that had been tormenting the shrine since the end of the ceremony. He smiled because he could feel that it was no ordinary breeze. He didn't need to see any sort of soft pale yellow in the air around them to know that the calming wind that took them all was the work of one who was quickly becoming even closer of a dear friend, Hikaru. The breeze was familiar, at this point, as she had used it greatly in the past few days when he felt the most hopeless. But this breeze was not just for Jun, he knew. It was also for everyone else.

"I think you try to hard, Hikaru," he whispered, standing straight up again and placing his hands into the pockets of his red pants.

"Oh, do I?" came the almost immediate response, but at a shout. He looked to his right to see the top of one's red hair bouncing up the steps to the grave markers. Only once Hikaru had reached the top and placed a hand on one hip where her light yellow skirts flared out did he turn his gaze back to the slab of gray stone. She smiled a very small smile, and twirled her finger in the air. "Heard you."

"I knew you would," he replied, his words heavy as he stared into the engraved lettering of Yurika's gravestone. He sighed again, and was not startled when he felt thin arms wrap themselves around his waist and breasts push into his back. He pulled his hands out of his pockets and rested them on Hikaru's pale arms, trying to tell her that it was okay, he was fine.

Was he? He had been nothing more than a mess for the past few days. Only now, since it was Yurika's ceremony, did he dare come out of Yamada Manor to see the world. It was... odd to go anywhere beyond the front gates of Gai's land, knowing that she was dead. Seeing her marker finalized that even more. But something... it still didn't seem right. He still could feel somewhere in his heart that one day she'll walk through the front door and declare that she was just on a long shopping trip with Megumi and Minato and man, did she meet some rude cashiers and fellow shoppers today. Jun knew she wouldn't. He saw her body. He was the one that had called the police. He was at her funeral. He had spoken and gotten upset with the killers. But... he still thought, somehow...

"Hikaru," he squeaked out, feeling as if he was going to break down and cry again. Not because of the simple fact that the one person he loved most in this world was dead, but because he somehow still didn't believe it. "When am I going to be able to accept it?"

"Huh?" The arms fell away, but somehow still didn't leave him as she laid a hand on his shoulder, contorting her body to look into his face. "Accept..." she pointed behind her at Yurika's tombstone as she glanced at it over her shoulder.

Jun nodded. "Yeah. I mean... I'm still angry. How... how could anyone've killed her? And... Hikaru..." He shook his head and covered his eyes with a hand, as if trying to rub away a migraine.

Hikaru hummed and ran her fingers through Jun's hair. She had done that a lot since he had come back to Yamada Manor, to calm him when it seemed that he was feeling at his lowest. "Shh, Junny-baby. Shh. I don't know how any one could have had it in their black, evil hearts to kill such a lovely creature such as Yurika, but we'll find out."

"That's not just it, Hikaru," he sobbed, feeling his knees begin to shake a bit. "When... When am I finally going to realize that she is really, really gone? She's not around anymore, she's not alive anymore. She's dead and why can't I understand that?"

Hikaru guided him to the ground, where he sat upon his red cloak, no doubt dirtying it. "You mean to tell me that... you seem to think that Yurika is just going to... come back one day?"

"No, I know she isn't. I know she isn't, Hikaru, it's just... The only thing I can think of and be sad about is how she was killed, not about how... I'm never going to see her again. Flamma, I just can't... Why aren't I upset about that?!"

Hikaru seemed frozen after this outburst. Jun suddenly felt very ashamed. He _should_ feel bad about him not ever seeing her again. That is what he probably should be focusing on, not on just the killers. After all, what was he going to do, chase down the murderers himself?

Hikaru laid her hands on both of his shoulders and looked him in the face. "Junny, oh honey, it's okay! Look at me, okay?" He let down his hands and saw Hikaru grinning. "You know you won't see her anymore, but you have some sort of new focus. That's okay! Junny, it's called getting on with life, and getting over it."

"But..."

"No, Junny, no buts!" Hikaru stood suddenly and lifted him up by his hands. She brushed off any part of him that may have been soiled by his spill onto the badly paved sidewalk. "Listen. Those things you're thinking... it's okay! When I lost my parents, I cried a lot. A lot. You have no idea how sad I was. But one day I just found myself only thinking of them off-hand. I'd remember something and realize that I won't ever see them again. But it wasn't in my front focus anymore. I was worried about school, and how Izumi was doing, and why Grandma was still being such a bitch to me. It wasn't all about my parents' deaths anymore. I got over it."

This made sense. Jun couldn't believe how much sense this made. The only thing he seemed to feel over the situation anymore was how angry he was with whomever had killed Yurika. He wasn't as sad anymore, just a bit worn down. He still was a little sad that she was gone forever, but... it just seemed like an undisputable fact now, and something he needed to remember whenever he felt for any reason that Yurika was going to walk through that front door of Yamada Manor and be back and they would still be getting married in November. Yurika was dead and gone. There was nothing that could change that, not wishful thinking, and certainly not any sort of belief that she was still alive. She had been decapitated, for Flamma's sake.

"Do you," Jun began, though he didn't seem to know what he was about to ask himself, "do you think that... I am maybe... getting over it?"

"Sure. It sounds about right."

"But... it's so soon. After her... death, I mean."

"Junny." Hikaru cupped her hands on his cheeks and pulled his face down so she could see him better. "You've had a tough time these past few days. You've done a lot of mourning, asking all the hard questions, and coming to realize that Yurika has passed on. Not everyone else here has had that time to get everything out and on the table like that. So... they will still be distraught. They will still need time. But... Junny, it's okay if you're okay now. If you are getting over her death. You've had time, and the others are probably all still shocked. I know I'm still a little shocked."

All this time, Jun had somehow forgotten that Hikaru was close with Yurika as well. Not as close as he, or Akito, or Ryoko, but they _had_ shared a room for a long time. He felt his arms raising up against his will and he allowed them to find their way around Hikaru's waist. He pulled her into a tight hug, and for the first time, it wasn't a hug of desperation for him, but one where he wanted to help her. She had done so much for him and he hadn't even realized that Hikaru was just as angry and sad as he was, or had been.

"Hikaru..."

"Hm?"

"...Life will go on, won't it?"

Hikaru pulled herself out of his embrace by pushing her hands against his shoulders. She stared into his face, obviously searching it for some sort of meaning or expression. Then she smiled softly, and Jun wondered if those were tears that made her eyes seem a lot brighter than they were. "Yes, Junny. Life will go on. Even if she is gone, life will go on."

---

Genichiro had been privy to viewing quite a few Pentakami ceremonies in his time since he became the second discoverer of Ninlan. It was one of those "perks", so to speak, of being the confidant of both the Emperor and Empress of Ninlan. He was well aware of the traditions of weddings, funerals, holidays, or even days of magic identification, when children in Carmina were brought in to be inspected for signs of nanomachine activity in their blood. But he was also well aware that this was a funeral for a Martian, a former captain of an Earthling battleship, a Magus's Rage, and a simple waitress. Despite being well versed in Pentakami lore, Genichiro was Jupiterian to the bone, and couldn't help but notice how... informal it was, specifically for a former captain of war. Of course, had it been under the direction of His Excellency, Genichiro was sure it would have gone much nicer, but His Excellency had appointed Lord Othinakothe to Tokyo's Pentakami church, so it was his obligation, not His Excellency's.

Of course, His and Her Excellencies had no obligation to aid in the search of the murderers either, but there they were.

One would say they did, in fact, have an obligation; but they would be quickly refuted by someone mentioning that if that was the case, the whole world should be in a constant state of search. It was not just Misumaru Yurika and Lord Mythos Entrada that were murdered, but also Aqua Crimson of the Crimson Corporation, and Vice Admiral Kusakabe Haruki.

"Kusakabe, how I hope for your grilling is going well in hell," the long-haired Jupiterian exile whispered to himself. He did not, could not think fondly of his former superior and other told himself that he only wished that he had been the one to take Kusakabe's life from his body. But it was these thoughts that he blamed upon Kusakabe himself; Genichiro himself was not a violent person. He had simply gone through with what he was ordered to do, and didn't even understand until later that he had been manipulated into letting not only Earth, but he take the blame for something that was orchestrated and conducted by Kusakabe's sinister self. No matter... that was over and, by the looks of Minato and Yukina and whatever man was with them, things were going well with them. Genichiro was glad for that; he wished them luck every day.

No, this ceremony was about a captain he himself had been at odds with many a time during the war, but had little chance to make amends with, as Admiral Akiyama had been able to once the Nadesico had come back to Earth after its trip to Ninlan. It did not matter any longer; she had been killed by someone who seemed to be invisible and able to go anywhere they pleased. This worried Genichiro greatly. He knew that His Excellency himself had suspected Misumaru of killing Lord Entrada, and heard many times the arguments between the emperor and empress about how her friend could have possibly committed murder. Genichiro alone knew how His Excellency looked upon Metallo with hard eyes. The puppy was almost a symbol of what had happened, since he had been Misumaru's excuse. But now, Genichiro suspected the His Excellency would look upon the tiny golden retriever with sorrow, sorrow for not believing a former student, or his wife. For a wedding gift, the dog sure was a strain on His Excellency.

Genichiro wished he was able to help His and Her Excellencies with their search for the true killers, because twice had it been a personal, close friend killed now. They were almost in as hot a pursuit as the police and investigators themselves. However, Genichiro was not versed in signature reading, and the fact that he was not in common contact with any Martian on a daily basis, let alone any Earthlings other than the ones that had immigrated to Ninlan, would not have made it easy for him to be of aid. In fact, Genichiro only saw Martians as often as His and Her Excellencies saw them, which was usually during celebrations, such as the Peace Ball several months ago, their wedding, or ceremonies such as this funeral for one of the four living Martians left.

It had been determined by a Jupiterian that had once been under the command of Admiral Akiyama. Genichiro had never met Takasugi Saburota, as he was sure he would have remembered that long, bleached hair. No matter. But he had, through research and speaking with investigators, narrowed down the search to Martians in particular. But Genichiro remembered that it was almost immediately afterwards that Lady Ai had brought up the fact that since they are dealing with a Jumper, it could be a Martian that is already dead, or even one from the future, not just specifically the four living now. But, one had to remember with a smile, one is now dead, another in prison, and the other two...

Genichiro sat up straight suddenly, ceasing his slouching in the steel seat. Hold on. One was dead: Misumaru Yurika. Another was in prison: Lady Maboroshi Ai. The other two... had spoken at this very ceremony. Tenkawa Akito and Onikirimaru Kaguya. Genichiro's mind reeled. Tenkawa was... Aqua's Tears, correct? He glanced about, but he did not see him in the seating. But a broader search around the grounds with squinted eyes showed that he was helping Her Excellency walk down a large hill that overlooked the shrine. Oh, so that was him? He was the one that had... spoken of how he had refused Misumaru's hand in friendship and how much he regretted now. His speech had seemed very heartfelt and deep. He had not been friends with the former captain before her death, by his own choice, but he had once been friends with her as a child, and they had courted each other for a time, he understood. Would he be able to kill her, or any of the others, for that matter?

There was also Onikirimaru to consider. Her speech had been prepared beforehand, and seemed mechanical. However, as she was also a major industrial figurehead, she may have needed to prepare herself so she wouldn't be a mess in front of all of these people, as if it would make her look bad. She had been friends with Misumaru in their childhood as well, but had not really known her until recently, when the Nadesico came back to Earth nearly six months prior. Genichiro didn't know anymore to the story. But it was well known that Onikirimaru was in well with Miss Won, who now ran Nergal Heavy Industries. And it was also common knowledge that Nergal had a history for their ruthlessness and atrocities. It suddenly didn't seem so off for Onikirimaru to have been the one to have offed Misumaru, Lord Entrada, Kusakabe, or Miss Crimson.

Genichiro sighed heavily. He knew His and Her Excellencies were going to go out again the next day to investigate and research the crime scene or any points of the Leap Origin. He had to admit, it was quite a knotted case, and the two free Martians did look highly suspicious. However, they already had a suspect behind bars, whether His Excellency wanted to accept that that suspect was Lady Ai or not. Also, it was less than two weeks until the Induction of Ninlan into the System Alliance, and Genichiro knew that His Excellency was going to need Her Excellency's help in devising a plan, creating a speech, and making sure that he was ready. And all of _that_ could, in fact, take two weeks.

Genichiro shook his head and pulled himself to his feet. He didn't like being the responsible one, but it looked like now he would have to be. the least he could do was make sure His and Her Excellencies got some food into them and got to bed early enough to rise and get done what they needed early. Perhaps then they would feel up to working on what was important for Ninlan.

Flamma, when had he become so bossy?

---

TBC...

---

A/N: So... That's that? Sorry if it was a little too depressing; some of my own experiences kind of drove some of this this time around. But at least it was out by the new year! So, go ahead and tell me what you thought, and I swear I'll get this story done sometime soon... I promise! ;;


	31. 071199 071399

A/N: Sorry it took forever to get this chapter out, but I made it worth it; I'm very happy with how it turned out, and it's quite long. 52 pages long, in fact. So... That's it, really. 

Hikaru wasn't all that sure what she had intended to say or do once she arrived at the house who always seemed to have a dark cloud hanging over it. Yet, she continued to drive to Jun and Yurika's old residence, having been able to get Gai to agree to trust her with one of their cars. She wasn't very well versed in Tokyo's roads, but it didn't take her too long to realize any mistakes she had made in the trek and soon found herself parking just outside the boundary of the crime scene tape that surrounded and isolated the area to investigators only.

Why was she even here? For the past... it had been almost a week now, hadn't it? For the past week, she had been busy with Jun, making sure that he was in a state where they didn't have to have someone sit up with him to make sure he didn't do anything stupid and where they didn't have to have someone capable of magically subduing him so he wouldn't burn the whole house down. This had been one of the few times she had been able to let herself go anywhere off the grounds of the mansion without worrying about getting back as quickly as possible. Jun was in a state of "okay" now; there would be no worries of bonfires or Jun's brains blown out on the bathroom floor. Oh sure, it was a blunt way of thinking, but Hikaru had a habit of being so, when it came to very close friends in distress. Hikaru remembered when Ken had died of space pneumonia, like so many others had in those days. Back then, it was all Chloe and Hikaru could do to hide most of their medications, just to be safe. And after Rinji had died, Hikaru was sure she would have found that Izumi had hanged herself if Ryoko hadn't accidentally gotten her interested in words and puns.

It was surprising how Hikaru could think this easily about suicide. She herself had once in a while contemplated it, but she never actually did it. Her father had put a bullet in his temple soon after Hikaru's mother had died of space pneumonia, and that put it all in perspective for the redhead. Certainly nothing in her life could drive her to that. But it always seemed like those around her were at risk, like Izumi or Jun. Jun was okay now, though. Well, okay enough to be left with just that idiot Akito instead of being watched by Hikaru nonstop, around the clock. Izumi...

Hikaru was worried about Izumi. Izumi had taken a tough blow by having her girlfriend be held as the primary suspect in the investigation of Yurika's death. If that had not been the case, Jun may have been even better than he was now at this point. Izumi had lost two fiancés to death, and Hikaru knew that she would be able to explain living to Jun in a way that only they would be able to understand. But such was not the case, and Hikaru had something new to worry about: Izumi's well-being. As long as Inez was the primary suspect, Izumi would be a mess, just as she was now. Hikaru wasn't sure if Inez had really killed Yurika or not, but she wanted to find out for sure.

Perhaps that was why she was here. She wanted to be able to tell Izumi what she knew. She wanted to be able to say for sure whether her best friend's girlfriend was a murderer or not. But at the same time, Hikaru couldn't help but think she was here for herself too. She was still a little shocked about this whole thing, having been more worried about Jun than the whole situation. But now she was able to think about it, and it was not a pretty thing to contemplate. Hikaru had been friends with Yurika. As Ryoko had said, Hikaru was the very first among the Nadesico crew to figure out why Yurika always wore sweaters, no matter what. Yurika had always been worried about being cold. She hated getting sick as a kid because her mother had died of being sick. Hikaru could sympathize; both she and Ryoko had lost their own mothers to sickness. But Hikaru and Ryoko had been old enough to understand that space pneumonia was a very serious disease when Lara Amano and Subaru Yukari had died. Yurika was only two when she lost her mother to disease, and wasn't able to understand that it was a very severe sickness that had stolen her mother; she had just thought it was a general sickness. So, Yurika always was afraid of getting sick, and came to also be afraid of being cold, worried that she would catch a cold if she let herself be in chilly conditions unprotected.

But that was only one result of Hikaru being Yurika's friend. The others were not so clear. But the two of them had something of a friendship where they could trust each other. Not nearly on the same level as Hikaru and Izumi, or Yurika and Ryoko, but enough. Enough so that Hikaru felt a sadness that went a little bit deeper than a crewmember feeling sorrow over the loss of their leader. Maybe that was why Hikaru was there now; Yurika was more than a captain to her. Yurika had been more than a captain to all of them, but... Hikaru wanted to help. She knew she could with instructions as to what to do. It couldn't have been hard; Megumi wasn't even a mage and she could read signatures. Hikaru hadn't received that sort of training during magic lessons on Ninlan more than a year ago, but she didn't care. The last thing she needed and wanted once Jun was all right without her was to sit around at home and try to do any actual work on her manga.

Hikaru shook her head and exited the vehicle, scanning the line of bright yellow crime scene tape that circled the property for someone to speak with. A rather large man in the standard white-and-green police uniform stood near the corner where the yard met the driveway. He scratched his head restlessly and shifted his weight from foot to foot. Hikaru felt her goofy, friendly smile creep over her face as she made a direct beeline for the guard, who was obviously there to make sure people went along their business and did not trespass.

Hikaru barely needed to open her mouth before she reached him either. He quickly raised a hand before her and shook his head, his thick, curly violet hair making slight crinkling noises. "I'm sorry, miss, but I can't let you in. Go on about your business."

Hikaru grinned brightly. One would probably accuse her of attempting to use her charms to get what she wanted from this man, but she wasn't. She just didn't want to seem threatening at all. "Oh, I don't want to see what's going on, or even necessarily go in, really. I just wanted to ask if you could do me a favor and tell me something."

"Any details open for the public about this case will be on the international news this evening, I assure you."

"Oh no, nothing like that, Officer..." Hikaru glanced at the green pin on his chest, "Sato, is it? No, I don't really want inside information. See, I'm looking for somebody, and I think they are here."

Officer Sato narrowed his deep-set crimson eyes. "Who are you looking for?" he asked cautiously. Hikaru didn't blame him for his disbelief.

"I just want to know if Meg and Rumiko are in the house, is all. I want to talk to them really fast."

Hikaru was suddenly worried that Officer Sato was going to crumple at her request, quite literally. He had become very pale once she referred to them, and his eyes were now very wide as his eyebrows had shot up and hid in his stiff bangs. "Wa-wa... _What?_"

"Meg and Rumiko. You can't miss them. American chick with purple hair, may or may not be in fancy dress? Pale stick-in-the-mud with a really strong Ninlandish accent? Rumiko kind of has this thing where his 'fu's, 'bu's, and 'pu's get all interchanged and you can barely understand what he's trying to say... They are in there, right?" Hikaru may have been slightly concerned whether the cop was going to faint or not, but that didn't mean she couldn't have a little fun with him. Whether this was a very sad place to be on the threshold of or not, Hikaru felt herself feel tons better than she had when she had left the car.

"You... y-you certainly don't mean... His and Her Excellencies, the Emperor and Empress Adagio of Ninlan?" the officer stuttered out, swallowing several times. He appeared to be beginning to sweat profusely.

Hikaru rolled her eyes and flapped a hand in the air. "Now, now, there's no need to kiss their asses. Last I checked, this was Earth, not Ninlan. We have satellite TV, for Aer's sake!" Hikaru smiled even brighter as the officer's complexion began to redden. This was way too much fun. Hikaru wondered what other colors she could turn Officer Sato.

Officer Sato gaped for a moment or so, then his eyes began to scan the scene. A little less than a minute later, he shouted, "Officer Nakamura!" Hikaru watched the small group of people dressed in white-and-green near the edge of the yard. A woman with short black hair looked up and Sato gestured for her to come over.

Carefully walking around the yellow tape, she scrutinized Hikaru. As she approached, Sato stood up straighter. "Officer Nakamura, I'm sorry to disturb your investigation, but this young woman -"

"Amano Hikaru," Hikaru supplied.

"Amano-san is in search of, well..."

"Yes? Out with it, Sato." Hikaru smiled at Officer Nakamura's comment. She liked her.

"She has requested an audience with... the Emperor and Empress," Sato finally choked out, looking a bit green.

Nakamura knit her dark eyebrows and shot her gaze towards the slight redhead. Hikaru clasped her hands behind her back and tried her best to appear as innocent as possible. She was definitely not above using any charms she had, anyway. Nakamura coughed, blood rising a bit in her cream-colored cheeks. "Well, I'm afraid we don't have the clearance to grant such a request, Amano-san. Not everyone can just come and talk to His and Her Excellencies, you understand."

"Oh, I understand perfectly. That's the only reason I'm asking. You see, I do have clearance to speak with Meg and Rumiko and at any given time. One of the few, in fact." She also wasn't above stretching the truth a bit.

"Somehow, I fail to believe that," Sato was able to retort. Nakamura glared at the officer, obviously preparing to lecture him for his attitude. Unfortunately, she was interrupted before she could even begin by a slightly accented voice, bell-like in sound and in beauty.

"Fail to believe what?" All three heads turned to the woman who only stood about an inch taller than Hikaru herself, dressed from head to toe in black, though her clothing was highly informal. Head tilted to one side, Megumi played a bit with the onyx pendant that was always hanging from her neck. As Hikaru examined the former voice actress's smile, she could swear that she was also reveling in the amazing array of colors the officers' skin tones could become. Megumi smiled, darkly painted lips parting to show a row of perfect white teeth. "It's nice to see you, Hikaru, though the place could not be any graver than Yurika's resting place itself."

Hikaru groaned and held a hand to her forehead. "Oh Aer, Izumi would kill you for that one."

"I utterly agree with my whole being, as much as it pains me to say I agree with you, Amano-san." Rumiko was just approaching their small group, looking just as self-important as ever. Hikaru sighed. The gods sure had done well in choosing the new emperor of Ninlan; Rumiko had the perfect mindset for royalty. He stopped next to his wife and glared at both of the cops. "Something for you?"

"Oh, Your Excellency, we were just -"

"Telling me I didn't have clearance to talk to you. As if I didn't take magic lessons under you or anything," Hikaru grumbled, crossing her arms. She wasn't _truly_ upset. She was just playing her part, and that required her to act as if she was hurt by the officers actions.

However, Rumiko seemed able to sense this and merely sighed, shaking his head and causing his long black tresses to fall over his shoulders. "That will be all," he said to the two cops, dismissing them. They both returned back to their duties much quicker than was comfortable to Hikaru. "Now what do you want?"

"Rumiko!" scolded Megumi.

"No, it's okay, Meg. I'm really clear on how much of an asshole he can be." Hikaru rolled her eyes as Rumiko started to become red, a sign he was about to start on an indignant rant on how she should not speak to him like that and he could have her excommunicated and more random, self-righteous bullshit. "I was just wondering how it was coming."

Megumi sighed and shook her head, pushing loose strands of her long bangs behind her ears. "It isn't. It hasn't since Miss Fressange was arrested. And that only happened after we found some of the Jump sites. Of course, other than just checking anywhere else, we've been trying to figure out the who, when, and where of those particular Jumps but it's been, well, difficult." Megumi rubbed a temple with one hand, then extended it. "Hey, I wanted to ask you anyway: How's Jun doing?"

Hikaru bit her lip. "Better, at least," she answered, stumbling over the flesh between her teeth. "He's... in a state of 'okay' right now. That basically means that we don't need to worry so much about him, you know, doing anything crazy, like throwing himself off a balcony or torching the house, but... he's not a hundred-percent yet."

"I don't expect he ever will be," Megumi muttered. Hikaru was sure she wasn't supposed to hear this statement, but her connection to the winds let her hear it anyway. She pretended she didn't hear it.

"Meg," Rumiko began, laying a hand on her shoulder to get her attention, "we need to go."

As Megumi turned to her husband and nodded, Hikaru felt her face slacken in shock and worry. She had come to ask, no, beg them to allow her to help. So she wouldn't smother Junny. So she wouldn't go stir crazy. So her girls' comic didn't suddenly take a turn for the dark and gloomy because of the despair she felt for losing someone that slept in the bed on the other side of the nightstand in her room. She had to help. She just had to. She knew she could if Rumiko and Megumi were willing to tell her what she needed to do, but she hadn't even been able to ask that yet, and here they were heading to their hotel room, giving up.

"Wait!" she cried as Megumi and Rumiko began to leave. She had no idea what she had intended to say. Sweat began to bead on her brow, thankfully hidden by her thick bangs. "...Where are you going?" she finally decided on. At least then she could figure out where they were headed so she could ask them a few more questions. Maybe even stall them a little.

The two in charge of the newest addition to the System of Sol stopped and turned on their heels, almost as simultaneous as synchronized swimming. Rumiko glared at the redhead from behind his thick frames, while Megumi's jaw hung slack, eyes widened in what appeared to be utter shock. Megumi quickly turned to Rumiko and tugged on his black-and-silver shirt, which had obviously been perfectly tailored for the emperor for the current late Ninlandish winter. Rumiko never was able to keep track of the differences in seasons from Ninlan to Japan. "Rumiko," Megumi began, a slight smile turning her darkly painted lips, "she could make it easier. Go a little more smoothly, you know? I mean... I was worried about how we would do it, but if we can get Hikaru to talk to them..."

"Oh, it's nice to see that you're volunteering her to take the hard job of convincing them to let us do this without the hefty paperwork, Megumi. She probably would side with her friends and lock the gates, Gods strike her down."

"Wait," Hikaru interrupted. "What the hell do my friends have to do with anything?" She paused, realizing she still had no idea where they were going. "You guys never answered me," she finished with a whine.

Megumi's small smile turned upside down, and she looked to Rumiko, her purple eyebrows knit in a somewhat pained expression. Rumiko sighed and rubbed his temples, then held a hand out, as if reaching for an answer from Hikaru. "What are you doing here anyway?"

Well, Rumiko did have a way, sometimes, of cutting right to the chase. Usually when it concerned someone he saw as below him. Those who he respected and put up on a pedestal got all of the fancy words that made little to no sense. Hikaru bit her lip with this thought. It was so like him, but he didn't have to be so _mean_ about it. "Well... I came... to see if I could be of service."

A pair of knit eyebrows and a whispered, "What?" was Hikaru's only answer.

She nibbled on her lip and wrung her wrists in her hands as she stared at the ground. This certainly wasn't as easy as she had hoped. "Well, if I may say so myself, I am one of the more stronger mages that knew Yurika personally, so I thought maybe, with a little instruction, I could help you guys investigate and try to place signatures." Her words came pouring out of her, and she braced herself for Rumiko's obviously indignant retort. He and Meg could do it on their own. What would they need her help for? She didn't even know how to read signatures, for Aer's sake.

But the irate speech turning her down never came. Hikaru glanced up through her light-colored eyelashes to see Rumiko biting his own lip. The emperor of Ninlan glanced to his wife, then crossed his arms across his chest. "You really... just came to help."

A statement, not a question, did Rumiko struggle to say. Yet Hikaru still felt compelled to lower her head a bit, almost in reverence, and give a quick nod. "Uh-huh."

A few moments of silence, then Hikaru lifted her head to see what she was missing. No sound had come from either of Ninlan's imperial leaders, but Hikaru could not help but notice a bead of moisture traveling down Megumi's cheek. Not sweat, but a tear. Hikaru narrowed her eyes and turned to Rumiko, who looked a bit down himself.

"I'm very sorry," he began. "We've already... cleared the house. We've read all the signatures."

"Oh." Hikaru frowned. She was too late, but there was nothing to be done about it. She stuck her hands in her pockets. "Well... that's all I wanted, really. I suppose... I'll head back home now."

"Wait!" cried the Earthling Empress of Ninlan. Hikaru stopped before she could even take a step. Megumi sniffed and wiped her leaking eye. After a few calming breaths, she tried her best to smile. "You... drove here alone?"

"Yeah. It was a pain to get Gai to let me, since I'm not the greatest driver ever lived, but I did." She paused. "Why?"

Rumiko sighed deeply and ran his hand through his hair. "To answer both of your ignored questions..."

Megumi frowned. "We're going to Yamada Manor."

Though the usual morning rush for coffee, breakfast, and conversation was just as busy and fast-paced as ever, the regular patrons of Peaceful Days couldn't help but notice that the bright and sunny place they had come to love had quite the large dark cloud hanging over it. The smiling girls that seemed so full of song they had recognized from somewhere else before, but couldn't place them, had been replaced with solemn waitresses, cooks, and cashiers, their brightly colored clothes replaced with dark hues and blacks. Some of the girls, usually Izumi and Junko, received wishes that their grief would not last long, and reassurances that their former captain was a very kind and loving woman.

None of this went unnoticed by How Mei. She was rather annoyed that they had brought their sadness to the workplace, but she did not voice these concerns. She knew she often forgot that her cooks hadn't been battleship cooks before the war, and never really had to experience it. On ships that _weren't_ as disorganized as the Nadesico, How Mei had to make sure she had a smile for the already exhausted and depressed soldiers she had to feed. But her girls had come from backwater restaurants and kitchens, not battleships. Still, she couldn't help but wrinkle her nose as she saw yet another tear shed and another sigh emitted.

Izumi and Junko were the worst of them. Izumi's voice was in monotone and she just stared off into space. She had yet to mess up a single order, but it was easy to tell her mind was elsewhere. And How Mei needn't ask where; Izumi's girlfriend _had_ just been arrested three days ago, and for Yurika's death, no less. How Mei couldn't find it in her heart to blame her. How Mei herself had, behind private doors of her own home, of course, cried her eyes out last weekend in her husband's arms when she heard about Yurika's death. How Mei had lost friends before in battle, or to sickness, or to old age, or even to accidents, but barely any of them had made such an impact on her life. The only thing that came close was that soldier she couldn't deliver his last meal to, and she didn't even know his name.

Yurika's funeral the day before had been gorgeous. How Mei remembered how brief Akatsuki's funeral had been while they were on Ninlan, and in comparison Yurika's had been absolutely beautiful. Akito and Jun had really pulled at her heartstrings. Akito in particular she felt said everything he would have needed to say. If he hadn't mentioned how cruelly he had pushed Yurika away she would have made him become friendly with the business end of her wok, that's for sure. Even so, no matter how much something mean inside her wanted to say "I told you so," she hadn't. Now she was glad she hadn't; Akito hadn't even shown up. Izumi said something about him wanting to have some time with Jun, but did not elaborate. How Mei believed it may have been for the best.

What had been really confusing her was Junko. She had not been close to Yurika... at all. How Mei would have dismissed it as Junko finally knowing, personally, someone killed by another, had it not been for their time on the Nadesico. Was it because it was Yurika, their former commanding officer? How Mei was certain that was why the rest of the girls were grim as they filled cups of coffee and cleared tables of dishes, but Junko was behaving a bit differently from them. She was biting her lip and gnawing it between her teeth, and How Mei could have sworn she saw Junko's hands shudder a bit when they were not holding something. She seemed almost... anxious, or nervous. Maybe even a little suspicious.

How Mei had shaken her head to clear those sorts of thoughts out. Junko was one of the last people on the planet to kill their captain. But she made sure to remember to ask Junko what was up on her next opportunity.

Just as it seemed that the numbers of people was dwindling, How Mei kept on eye on Junko as she carried a sizable pile of plates and cups to the large sink in the kitchen. How Mei looked back out into the seating area. "Eri!" she called out. "Take register, please."

"Okay, Miss How Mei."

How Mei headed back into the kitchen where Harumi and Sayuri were already cooking the orders Eri and Mikako had been delivering. How Mei walked right back to the sinks where Junko was washing dishes quickly and laid a hand on Junko's shoulder. "All right, let's hear it," she prompted once Junko had glanced up at her.

Junko bit her lip once more and was silent. How Mei didn't need to explain herself. She had been watching Junko all morning and hadn't looked away shyly like most when she was caught several times. Junko pulled her hands from the soapy water and wiped them on her white apron, which had been long since stained since they began working there. She took a deep breath and stared at the floor. "Miss How Mei," she began timidly, "I... I have something I want to ask you."

How Mei blinked. That... wasn't exactly what she was expecting to hear. She had been expecting to quell Junko's despair and anxiety. Maybe even a little bit of tears. But... a request? "Sure. What is it?"

Junko's teeth dug into her lip harder and she seemed distant. At least, she appeared to be looking out into the distance, past How Mei. But at something specific. How Mei glanced over her shoulder to see both Sayuri and Harumi looking over their own. They quickly went back to assembling sushi rolls for the lunch crowds, Sayuri commenting that Harumi was doing it wrong. How Mei turned her attentions back to Junko, who was now wringing her hands at the wrists. "M-Miss How Mei... Um... We wanted to know if... we could get some time off in the next few months. You know. To uh... work on our singing." Junko squeezed her eyes shut and hide her face, as if bracing herself for any answer How Mei may give, all of them negative.

How Mei almost laughed out loud. She had not realized how scary she had become over the past few months, and this expression was the testament of it. She was the bad cop again. She never wanted to be so strict, but she supposed military training did that to her. Instead, she settled for a relieved sigh and a smile. She reached up and patted Junko's head, mussing up her dark blue strands of hair while she was at it. As Junko reached to try to realign the strands, How Mei shook her head. "Oh, Junko. I was worried it was something else. Time off, you say?" How Mei held her chin in thought. "Well, I'd hate to lose you guys; you really are the best at this stuff, but... I suppose I understand if you girls want to move on, do something else with your lives."

Junko blushed and waved her hands. "Oh no, Miss How Mei. Nothing like that. It's just..." Junko's arms fell back to her sides and her head tilted to the floor. "Yesterday... It was Kanchou's funeral. I... well, _we've_ been thinking about all the things she's done us, personally, you know? Other than end the war and help keep us alive during the war and stuff... But... Kanchou, she gave us her singing contract. She selflessly gave us her opportunity to be an idol singer..." Junko shook her head slowly, almost sadly.

How Mei remembered this act well. Yurika had given it up because she had no desire to sing, while the girls had. It had them riled up for days, weeks afterward, speculating on their future and working on their music. It was what they had wanted the most, and all together. And it was right for the bright and happy cooks, who sang to get their work done quickly at every given opportunity. How Mei suddenly felt very selfish. She had been keeping the girls cooped up in Peaceful Days, where they had just started working there to help out and have a little extra money as they pursued their collective dream. They could be big stars now already, but they were always so busy working at the restaurant. How could How Mei have not thought of them?

Junko was still speaking, even as How Mei was beating herself up inside. "I'm not sure about the other girls," she continued, still looking away. "I think they mostly want to do it to be famous, or to sing and make people happy in this weird time we're living in. But... I want to do it for the music." Her head tilted farther downward and her voice dropped to a whisper. "I... I want to use the opportunity Kanchou gave us, the best I can."

How Mei couldn't let this girl's embarrassment go on, nor her own self-torture for the smothering she had subjected her girls to. God forbid she ever have children if this was how she treated them out of love. "I agree completely, Junko," she said loudly, so either of the pairs of ears at the door or the pairs of ears across the room could hear her clearly. "You can all take off as much time as you need. Peaceful Days will manage without you, I'll make sure of that."

Junko looked up at her, her dark blue eyes wide. "You... You do?"

How Mei nodded. "And I'm not going to just cut you off either. If things don't work out, God forbid, you can just come back and work here if you like."

Junko mouth opened and she somehow made her already large eyes even wider. How Mei only had this as her little warning before the smaller, younger woman wrapped her arms around her mentor. "Oh thank you, thank you, Miss How Mei!" Junko squeaked, then let go of the head chef quickly, brushing off any dirt she felt she added to How Mei's white chef's uniform. She blushed deeply and brightly. "I'm sorry, Miss How Mei."

"Oh, it's all right. Don't worry about it. In fact, I don't even know why you're apologizing."

Junko's head tilted downward again and How Mei wondered what she had said. She could barely hear Junko's soft voice. "I wonder... if Kanchou would want us to do this, so soon after..."

How Mei sighed. She knew the answer already, but it would be difficult to explain to Junko. Instead, she looked to the door that separated the seating area from the kitchen. "Mikako," she called out, knowing full well they had learned how to eavesdrop from the Nadesico pilots, "how busy is it out there?"

After an embarrassed squeak that all of the girls seemed to have down perfectly, the youngest How Mei girl stammered, "Uh, just stragglers. Haruka-san has already come and gone, ma'am."

How Mei nodded, though she knew Mikako couldn't see her. Instead, she wrapped an arm around Junko's shoulders. "Let's go and sit for a bit while I remind you of something you already know about well."

A few minutes and some stammering and blushing later, How Mei had Junko's full attention as she stared her down. "Junko, what's the name of your most successfully written song?"

"'You Get to Burning'," Junko said quickly, as if she didn't even need to think about it. She frowned. How Mei knew what she was thinking, but she took it upon herself to lead those thoughts to answer Junko's question.

"The rest of the girls learned it quickly after they heard you humming it one evening. They sang it for days after they had learned all the words and notes. And in those days, each member of the crew had learned it themselves. Someone could even say it was our ship's theme song. Uribatake-san sang it at Christmas. Kanchou sang it over the Indian Ocean." Junko bit her lip. "Junko, Yurika loved that song. Maybe even more than she loved that song Aoi-san had written for her. Now, I couldn't help but notice that the song is about bad things happening and the key to getting over and getting on with your life, which your song says is making the most of it."

Junko nodded. "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade, in a sense."

How Mei nodded. "I am almost certain Kanchou would want you girls to get moving on with your singing careers. If anything... Kanchou has been dead for nearly a week. She probably is wondering why you girls are not famous yet."

Junko smiled and let out a small giggle. Then she stood and hugged her mentor again, this time not worrying about wrinkling or soiling her uniform. "Thank you, Miss How Mei. For everything." Junko grinned at her, then walked back into the kitchens, humming her most successful song.

How Mei sighed, shaking her head. She couldn't believe it. It was amazing. A young woman like Yurika could still offer great advice, even from beyond the grave, just by allowing her actions to be analyzed. She certainly had been... something else. She still was, even.

As many times as Rumiko had been dragged to Earth, either by action of his wife or by some sort of political function such as Peace Ball or that System Alliance Induction that was steadily approaching, and as much time they usually spent in Japan, he had never been to Yamada Manor. He actually may have feared it, in the back of his mind. Those that lived there were once his students, and he was afraid of what sort of unkempt and wild abode he was going to be venturing into.

What he hadn't expected was for the black vehicle they were in traveling straight towards a rather large and noble looking home, beautifully landscaped and meticulously maintained.

Hikaru pulled the car past ancient-looking gates and drove it around a granite fountain in the center of front yard, towards an unnoticeable gravel path off the brick-laid driveway that led to a rather large looking shed. Once inside, it was apparent that this was a garage, but with small rooms on the sides for Gods knew what. Hikaru glanced over Rumiko's curious expression. "Oh," she began, realizing what he was wondering about. "That's where the gardeners keep their equipment. You know, lawnmowers, fertilizer, whatever else they use. It's easier for them than lugging it about everywhere." Hikaru led them out of the garage and down the gravel path back to the front.

"Wow," Rumiko breathed. This was much, much nicer than he had been expecting. What he had been expecting was maybe a mere shadow of what he saw now, perhaps even a rotting, smoking hole in the ground. This... This was almost nicer than the Ecclesiastical Palace, at least on the outside. The house looked much smaller than his castle, on the other hand, something that brought back a glimmer of his pride.

Rumiko watched the way Hikaru walked once she reached the brick driveway, and couldn't help but notice that her steps were carefully calculated before she took them, almost as if she was tiptoeing, though she wasn't. "Is there something wrong?"

Hikaru hissed and looked over her shoulder. She bit her lip. "Okay, look, Rumiko. I don't think this will go as well as you think. I mean... Gai is going to shit. Seriously. I'm just trying to... hold it off as long as possible."

"Hold what off as long as possible?" After what Hikaru had just revealed to them, even Rumiko felt himself straighten a bit when Gai's voice came from the doorway of the house. Gai narrowed his eyes as he saw that Hikaru was not alone, then nodded his head. "I see, Rumiko wants you to practice here. No problem."

Rumiko could see how Hikaru's gritted her teeth by the way her jaw flexed and relaxed. Glancing over at his wife, he could see that even she was a little worried about how this was going to go. Rumiko took a deep breath. He was Emperor of Ninlan. He was not going to let a former student of his unintentionally bully him into not doing his duty. "Yamada-san," he began, pushing his glasses up with a finger, "I am not here specifically to teach Amano-san how to read signatures."

Gai knit his eyebrows, then shrugged. "Okay. Akito was just making breakfast anyway. He may be a little upset that you guys arrived unannounced, but I suppose he'll get over it. Come on in." He held the front door open and gestured for them to enter.

Hikaru turned quickly on her heel and laid a hand on Rumiko's shoulder and another on Megumi's. "Don't worry, you guys. Just go in... Um, I'm sure Gai will point you toward the kitchen, and bug Akito for food. I'll handle Gai and stuff, okay?"

Megumi looked as if she was about to argue, so Rumiko took hold on her hand and shook his head. "All right." He pulled Megumi towards the door where Gai stood and, giving him a curt nod, entered the home of most of his students.

He had barely a moment to notice that the inside had a much more distinctively modern than the outside, or to switch out his shoes, before Megumi stopped him mid-step. "Rumiko," she hissed under her breath, "we need to help Hikaru."

"She said she could handle it, besides, I'm not afraid of an Aer's Rage that used to be one of my more difficult students," he whispered back.

"The kitchen is that way," Gai's voice interrupted, and at Megumi's sigh, he could tell she was happy he was still standing by the door. Rumiko glanced over his shoulder to see that Gai pointed to a large set of double door directly in front of them, to the left of the twin staircases that surrounded a grand piano painted black, an object that did not surprise Rumiko. Rumiko gave another short nod then began walking toward the kitchen, leading Megumi behind him.

Once he opened the door into the kitchen, Megumi really let Rumiko have it. She swung around so she was in front of him, glaring him down even from her short stature. "What is wrong with you, Rumiko? We could have at least helped her explain some!"

"We had a deal, Meg. She would get us in here so we can look around and make sure everything is as we think, and I teach her how to read signatures."

"Since when do you hold knowledge hostage to get what you want? She was doing us a favor. She didn't have to."

"And I don't have to teach her signature reading."

"As her teacher, if she requests it, you do!"

"Ah, but you forget. Lady Ai was her last teacher."

"So she's going to just waltz into whatever they have holding _her_ in and ask to learn to read signatures just so she could help our investigation?"

Clang. Rumiko's and Megumi's argument was brought to a reluctant cease-fire as Rumiko quickly turned his attention over Megumi's shoulder, and she quickly spun to see the source of the noise as well. A large, thick pan lay on the floor and rolled side to side, cooked rice plopping out of it at every movement. Nearby was a pair of light blue slippers, worn by one dressed otherwise all in black. Right arm bent at the elbow, Akito still let his hand sit slack where it was before he lost grip of the pan that now lay on the floor. He was too busy knitting his eyebrows together and allowing his jaw to hang slack to keep track of what his hands were doing, or had been doing, in this case.

Rumiko rubbed a temple. He shouldn't have been so careless. His and Megumi's argument had been growing intensively louder, until they had not even realized that they were shouting at each other, not whispering. Not to mention that while Gai wasn't exactly the brightest crayon in the box and Akito wasn't either, Akito could put two and two together. Rumiko quickly tried to go over all that was said in the kitchen, trying to find something that would be cause for alarm for Akito.

"Now, Akito... It isn't what you think..." Megumi seemed to have figured out what that was in particular first, and it appeared as if Akito had gained control of his hands again as he clenched his fists. He gritted his teeth, and Megumi braced herself. Rumiko knew why. She hated to hear her name spoken in anger.

"Hikaru..." Akito hissed and, straightening his arms to his sides, stomped out of the kitchen, disregarding the quickly cooling pan of rice as he pushed past Rumiko and Megumi and out of the kitchen.

Megumi looked to Rumiko with tears in her eyes, biting her lip. Rumiko narrowed his eyes behind his thick glasses, glaring more at the situation than at Megumi or Akito. He didn't really care for Hikaru, but if she was going to be verbally assaulted by someone she cared about herself, it was his duty as the instigator to make them stop. With a sigh, he grasped Megumi's bicep and tugged lightly. "Come on, let's go rescue Amano-san."

Upon arriving back in the hall, they found themselves in the company of one very angry Martian, one very sheepish redhead, and one very confused Mugendai CEO.

"I mean, honestly, could you be so selfish, Hikaru?" exclaimed Akito, the muscles in his back tense as he bent himself down to Hikaru's height.

"I don't understand why you're so angry, Akito! We're only here to-"

"Don't understand why! You don't understand why? You're taking advantage of Gai's kindness, that's why! Bringing Rumiko and Meg in here to teach you signature reading without even asking Gai first... Did you even think of the fact that it's not just your home, Hikaru? That other people like the ones that own the house might want to know when we have guests?"

"Aer, who pissed in your miso soup this morning, Akito? I know perfectly well that it's Gai's house. Notice I said _Gai's house._ Not yours. The way you're talking, you'd think it was your place to do with what you wish!"

"Is all this just because Akito may not have enough food for breakfast for..." Gai counted on his fingers as he mouthed names, "...eight people?"

"Besides, Akito, we're only here and doing things here for you anyway!" Hikaru finished with a red-faced cry.

Akito spun to face Megumi, who seemed to hide a bit behind Rumiko. "And you, Megumi, putting this investigation above our... what?" Akito's face slackened as Hikaru's words were finally processed by his brain.

Megumi took this moment to interject, "It's true, we are, Akito..."

Rumiko, on the other hand, was not one to back down when one raised their voice at him. He crossed his arms and stood up straight, nearly hiding Megumi with his height. "We are here not just to teach Hikaru to read signatures of Teleports and magic. We are also here to make sure that there is no evidence to prove that Akito is indeed Yurika's killer. We were asked to make sure that the alibi wasn't just a convenience; it seems the authorities are taking into account that Teleports also include time travel, not just space travel."

Rumiko was surprised to see Akito lower his head. He didn't seem to have a retort, and it didn't seem like he was formulating one, either. Megumi's grip on his arm and back slackened as she stepped out from behind him. He glanced at her to see her nearly on the verge of tears. It wasn't that Akito had frightened her really. It was more as if... she was in partial agreement with Akito. Megumi hadn't wanted to go to Yamada Manor, even before Hikaru had shown up. She said she didn't feel as if they had the right to go in and investigate every unnatural color lurking in their dwelling. Megumi could get anyone to get off her case if she believed in what she was standing up and doing, but today... she didn't. She didn't want to be here. Rumiko couldn't help but sympathize.

"...I'm sorry. Okay. Go ahead," Akito conceded, his head lowering more so they could see the top of his head, as if he was bowing. He flapped a hand toward the stairs. "Look wherever you think you might find something."

"I don't think so." The once friendly voice that had greeted them at the threshold now sparked with a righteous indignation that even Rumiko felt he would be hard-pressed to match and counter. Gai's dark eyes were narrowed and his breathing seemed a bit heavier. Rumiko bit his lip. This was what he was worried about. Though they had little contact, if any, Rumiko was well aware that Yamada Jiro was quick to anger if he had a clue what was going on and, though he forgave easily, his love for Akito would make him do the silliest, even most hurtful of things.

"I know what you're really doing here. They have no reason, no motive for Miss Fressange to have killed Yurika. Yurika and Miss Won's relationship was over a long time ago, and Miss Fressange has no vendetta against Jun. Akito, on the other hand, wasn't very friendly with Yurika up until her death. If anything, he's their _real_ number one suspect. Miss Fressange is just for show, isn't she? You're here to find any little thing that could make Akito guilty, even if it's just some leftover feelings of hate for her, and he's charged with murder." Gai pushed past Akito, his bushy hair bristling at the edges. He stood before Rumiko and jabbed a finger into the Head Pentakami Priest's chest, glaring down at him. "You're here because they think he really did it, and it would be so easy to pin it all on him. Well, I'm not going to have it. If my word is not good enough, they're just going to have to suck it up. I will not have Akito carted away for anything you think may prove he's a cold-blooded killer when I know he was either just angry at the time, or sad, or whatever! I won't have it in my home, Rumiko!"

Rumiko didn't need to think of anything to say. Instead, he raised a hand and slapped Gai's away as hard as he could. "How dare you speak to me like that? Do you not remember who I am? You may not be Ninlandish, and you may live on Earth, but this," Rumiko grabbed the hand Gai was poking him with and turned it so the nanocontroller tinted light orange showed, "puts you in _my_ flock. And I do not appreciate disobedient sheep." Rumiko released Gai's right hand and stared him down from behind thick glasses. "And as a citizen of the System Alliance, you have to submit to their authorities. And their authorities say we search this house's signatures, whether you want us to or not."

Megumi, Hikaru, and Akito were silent as Gai and Rumiko stared each other down. After a few moments, Gai sighed exasperatedly. "Fine, whatever. Do what you want, but know that I am not happy." With that, Gai practically stomped out of the main hall to a door on the other side of the house, pushing through it. Akito quickly followed, running after him.

Once they had left, Megumi turned to Rumiko. "What the hell is the matter with you?"

"Me?"

"Yes, you! Pulling rank so you could check the house? What made you even consider that that is a good idea?"

"Um, guys," Hikaru interrupted. Once she had their attention, she appeared as if she wasn't sure she wanted it. "Even though all the yelling might have already woke them up... Could we tone it down a bit? Ryoko and Itsuki are still sleeping I think, and Jun is for sure. We could at least be courteous to them, you know?"

"I couldn't agree more, Hikaru. At least someone remembers what manners are," Megumi responded, crossing her arms.

"Look Megan-"

"Where does Akito usually spend most of his time?" Megumi asked Hikaru, ignoring her husband.

Hikaru bit her lip. "Well, maybe we should go to the major hot spots downstairs before we go upstairs, so their bedroom is out for now... I'd say... Kitchen definitely, but also the parlor, the library, the study... there _is_ Jun's house too, but..."

"We don't need to check there immediately. Where's the parlor?"

"Um, to your left." Megumi nodded and went straight in, making sure to shut the double doors behind her.

Rumiko muttered a curse, then glared at Hikaru. "Fine, I'll teach you in the kitchen."

As Gai stomped into the little used bar room of the house, he turned on lights as he came in. He knew full well that he couldn't leave a scene like that without someone following, particularly Akito. He was probably going to come in a give a much more colorful version of exactly what Rumiko had said before he left, and Gai wasn't sure he wanted to deal with that. Gai sighed heavily and glanced over the area of the room that actually had the bar in it. Most of the wooden surfaces of the counters, glasses, and bottles there were covered with quite a thick layer of dust, as they were mostly for show since his parents died. None that lived in Yamada Manor now were much avid drinkers, though Itsuki felt the need occasionally to dip into a bottle of wine. His dark eyes fell on the blender on the counter, and suddenly he felt himself wanting nothing more than one of his mom's old grape smoothies. That sure would make him feel better and less stressed out, that was for sure.

Gai heard the door leading into the room slam and a very annoyed sigh come from behind him. Gai looked over his left shoulder to see Akito staring at him with narrowed eyes, scrutinizing his expression as he finished turning. Gai didn't even get to open his mouth before the question came out, the question Gai knew Akito was dying to ask and would demand an answer to. "What the hell is the matter with you?"

Well, that certainly wasn't what Gai thought he was going to ask. "Me?" Gai held a hand to his chest. Surely Akito didn't think that Rumiko was in the right here. He had pulled rank and threatened Gai to get full access to Gai's house. There was no way Akito could agree with that.

"Oh, don't give me that bullshit, Gai. You know perfectly well that I mean you and no one else. What the fuck, Gai? What in Aqua's name made you think that going off on motherfucking _Rumiko_ was a good idea? He's an emperor, he has political and spiritual clout over you, and you blew up on him as if he was Itsuki and you guys were having a disagreement! Do you remember all of that? Let me ask you again: Who the fuck made you think that was a good idea?"

Gai clenched his jaw, jutting his chin out a bit. "Are you trying to tell me that Rumiko has the right to barge into _my_ home and demand that I let him search every nook and cranny for evidence to put you in a jail cell instead of Miss Fressange? Never mind the fact that he threatened me with his so-called 'clout.'"

Akito's jaw dropped and his eyes widened. He then shut his mouth with an audible clap and narrowed his eyes into small slits. "Is that what this is all about." A statement. It may have been phrased as a question, but it was obvious there was no doubt in Akito's mind that whatever he considered "that" to be was what all of this was about. He nodded slowly. "I see. Honestly, Gai, I don't know what crawled up your butt and died. But I can see what you're really upset about. I can see what you're doing here. This has nothing to do with Rumiko threatening you or barging into your home, is it, Gai? It isn't, we both know it isn't." Akito stepped closer to Gai and glared up into his face, his shorter stature not making him look any smaller than Gai himself, his anger and calm approach to this anger heightening him significantly. "This is about you and your damn superiority complex."

Gai blinked. "Superiority complex? I don't have a superiority complex-"

"Oh bullshit, Yamada Jiro! You fight with Rumiko and you tell me you don't have a superiority complex. You try to emasculate me-"

"Hey, for your information, Akito, I happen to adore your penis!"

"Figuratively, Gai. Aqua, psychologically! You've been ramming this 'damsel in distress' thing down my throat too much and for too long! You don't need to fucking protect me! Aqua, we went this over a million times, Gai! I thought you were going to lay off, but obviously you haven't."

Gai shook his head quickly and violently, then held his hands out at Akito as he crossed his arms and looked away. "Akito, you don't understand. This is much bigger and much more important than who gets top position when we are having sex, okay? They are accusing you of murder in there!"

Their argument was interrupted by a soft, polite cough. Gai was surprised right out of the rant he was going to let Akito have and turned his head slowly left. The room had been nearly silent and completely dark when he had entered. There was no way anyone could have been in here, right?

Sure enough, at one of the small tables set up on the other side of the room sat Jun, the table covered in papers with sheet music and lined pages of scratched out scribbles. Jun glanced at them from the corner of his eye as he pushed the slight fringe of hair he was growing behind his ear, pulling the earphones set in his ears out. Slight traces of instrumental electric guitar and keyboard could be heard before Jun found the music disk player in the mess and turned it off. It was only then that he swiveled in his seat, crossed his legs, and rested his hands on his knee.

Akito was the first to regain his composure. Gritting his teeth, he said quietly and worriedly, "Uh... how much did you hear there, Junny?"

The response was equally quiet, if not more so, and highly calculated. "Enough. Actually, to tell you the truth, most of it." He pointed to the music disk player. "That song Worlds is working on in instrumentals is really loud; I have to keep the volume relatively low so I can think. So I heard all of the yelling."

Gai raised an eyebrow. "'Worlds'?"

"Subtracting Worlds," Akito barked at him, "you know, his band." Akito rolled his eyes, then turned back to Jun. "What are you doing in here?"

"Working," Jun answered shortly, waving a hand over the disorder on the table. Akito wondered over and, while he took a few quick glimpses of the pages, Jun explained. "Hikaru told me about how when her parents died, she started to work. A lot. She wrote a lot of fanfiction for the anime she watched, but she also taught herself to draw. I figured... I could at least try to do something to try to keep my mind off of... things. So I'm writing lyrics for this song Anzai let me have to work with until Saturday." Jun shrugged. "I was working in my living room, but I was a little surprised to hear Megumi's voice. I came in here to get a little more quiet when I saw Rumiko and Megumi in the kitchen with you, Akito." Jun narrowed his eyes are the other two men that resided in Yamada Manor. "What's going on?"

Gai crossed his arms and thought about the easiest way to say it without worrying Jun. Was it possible? "Megumi and Rumiko are here teaching Hikaru to read signatures. All three of them are looking for evidence to prove that Akito killed Yurika." Gai bit his lip. Whatever the easiest way was, that certainly wasn't it. The second Gai said her name, Jun's nearly stoic, possibly slightly curious expression faltered. His eyes widened a bit and his mouth quivered. He bit his lip to hold it still and looked away, to Akito, while he knit his eyebrows.

Akito growled under his breath loud enough for Gai to hear, then sighed. "Whatever. Look, Junny, all they're doing is looking to make sure there isn't anything here that someone could say or use as proof to accuse me. We both know I would have never done that to her, not in a million years. All of us know that, right? But the authorities don't, so Hikaru, Rumiko, and Megumi are looking for something to give them so that they believe it too." Akito turned to Gai and glared at him. Gai was sure he mouthed something, but he couldn't figure it out. After a moment of Akito staring at Gai, Akito sighed and knelt in front of Jun. "Junny," Akito gathered Jun's hands in his own as he looked up into his face, "I'm sorry we took over your space, but maybe you'll find that it's much quieter in our sitting area of our bedroom, or even in Izumi's study or dressing room. She's not home today, and I doubt she would mind." Akito then kissed Jun's hands, as if begging.

Jun nodded. "I think I have an idea I want to kick around anyway. You guys have fun arguing; Hikaru and Rumiko are already going at it themselves." Jun collected his papers quickly and wrapped the cords for his music disk player around his wrist before quickly exiting.

It wasn't until after they heard his footsteps above them in Izumi's room that Gai began to speak again. "What did you do that for?"

Akito stared at the table whose dust was no longer evenly spread across it. "Because he doesn't need this. He doesn't need this bullshit from us. He doesn't need to worry about us. He will anyway; that's how he is. Especially now. Anything to get his mind off of Yurika. But the less he worries about what's wrong with us, the better." Akito stood and turned to Gai, glaring angrily at his boyfriend and lover. Gai shivered. The temperature of the room, without the distraught Jun to keep it warm, dropped significantly. Akito pointed at the door. "_That_ is part of why we need to cooperate the best we can. The more we let them do what they want, the more they'll find about the real killer, instead of the random people they're pointing fingers at, like me. I didn't do it; I'd swear that on Aqua's name and on my cooking skills. But someone out there thinks I did, and we should do everything we can to prove them wrong." Akito breathed out from between his teeth harshly, a small cloud of steam emerging. "But you... You're making it look very bad for me."

Gai put his hands on his hips. "And what makes you think that?"

Akito pointed his finger at Gai accusingly. "You're being way too overprotective! You're making me look suspicious, like I have something to hide! And I don't. If they want to know how often we fuck for all I care, if it helps them find who really killed Yurika, I'll tell them, by Aqua!"

They glared at each other for a good long time. Finally, Akito growled and turned away, walking towards the door. Once he reached it, he turned back to Gai. "You know, you're hopeless. You don't care what other people think, and sometimes, that's fine. But when you don't even care what other people think when it's important, and you refuse to listen to them... or you don't even care what they feel..." Akito looked to the red carpet under their feet. "That's when I wonder," he whispered, "if you care about anything at all." Before Gai could begin to speak with him again, Akito was gone, probably to go and finish cooking breakfast.

Gai walked over to one of the bar stools and sat down, resting an elbow on the counter. He sighed heavily and bit his lip. He cared. He really did. But... he never let anyone see it, really. He barely even showed that he cared what other people thought or felt. He was always just... angry when he didn't get his own way. He didn't think about how conceding would make anyone happy. He didn't even think about whether other people disagreed with him. Maybe he did have a superiority complex. Maybe he did need to lighten up. But he did care. He cared a great deal.

He cared so much that he was almost brought to tears as the temperature began to rise back to normal in the room. He wanted to see his breath in the middle of July, because at least then Akito would not be missing from his life, and the one thing he cared about most would be at his side, whether or not he was angry. Not stormed out of the room, not wondering if he loved him at all, but within arms' reach.

Megumi had not looked at any clocks, mostly because she didn't want to see how much longer until they needed to leave. Nevertheless, she was certain that her survey of the parlor and gym had taken several hours, just based on exactly how much she had seen before she was finished in that room and on the aching in her back.

Arguments, spilled drinks, movie speculations, and various conversations during card games were among the many different things Megumi had bared witness to as she had checked nearly every signature in the parlor. She had not seen a room shine that brightly since Rumiko had lived in a one-room shack on the outskirts of Somenolenthe. Megumi thought about following Akito and giving him a lecture on letting their magic run loose so much, but she didn't think that was such a good idea. It didn't seem like a good idea to bring it up to either Jumper that went into that room. Besides, did they really need a girl they didn't really care for telling them what to do? Megumi believed it was best to just keep silent about it.

After a while, she just went after the brighter signatures, which seemed to be almost exclusively arguments, and if there was anything that would say Akito would have killed Yurika, Megumi was certain it would have been in an argument. And even after some time of just checking those, Megumi found herself only looking for the silver and light blues that would have been Akito and Yurika's doing. Those were mostly arguments, though Megumi felt uncomfortable to witness various tender moments between the two, Yurika asking Akito to be her friend and being met with Akito's refusal. One of them even convinced Megumi wholly that Akito could never have killed Yurika. The memory had him near tears, glaring at their former captain. "I loved you, Yurika. And you hurt me. How do you expect me to forgive and forget that? You tossed me away once you had me, and now you want to be friends? No. Not this time. You're not getting what you want this time, Yurika." It was heart-breaking.

But, after checking in with Rumiko and Hikaru, who were still in the kitchen, Megumi found herself having moved on to the massive library just next to the parlor. The walls were lined from ceiling to floor with bookshelves of books, she found, seemed to span quite a few subjects, from relationships and computers, to animal skeletons and ancient religions. But there also seemed to be a few shelves dedicated simply to video disks of all kinds: documentaries, romantic comedies, action-filled science fictions, and even a large collection of anime that Megumi just had a hunch was both Gai's and Hikaru's. It was interesting to see how the residents of the house used these books, and who did. Megumi had no idea that Gai had a distinct interest in city planning, for one thing, yet there was his yellow-orange signature on books about the processes and legalities.

As for the room, Megumi was truly surprised at how clean it was. Yes, there was a fine layer of dust on the shelves and even more on some of the books on such odd and random subjects, but the signatures were almost exclusively restricted to the books themselves, something that wouldn't help Megumi at all. She wasn't looking to find out who actually liked what subjects, or how much each of the residents of Yamada Manor read; she was looking to see if there was any evidence at all that could prove Akito guilty of murder.

When it all came down to it, that's what it really was all about. Gai had been right; they were there to see if there was anything at all that could be used to point the finger at Akito. Megumi felt horrible about it. Here she was, not a day after she finally decided to be friendly with Akito again, and here she was looking for something to condemn him with. But this needed to be done, and would not be done by anyone else. It had nothing to do with the skills of Tokyo's best signature readers; the way the house was lit up, Megumi was certain someone who didn't know how to read signatures would figure it out quickly, and soon enough. It had everything to do with the fact that Megumi knew Akito well. Oh sure, Megumi and Akito had never had sex; hell, they didn't even go past that one first kiss, really. But Megumi had had quite a few tender moments with the Martian cook and had liked him a great deal for a while. And because of that, Megumi was one of the best to determine if anything Akito said in any of these memories was something spouted in anger, said in jest, or was honestly sincere and threatening.

That was another reason why she was so glad Hikaru had decided to help them out. Hikaru was still learning how to read signatures from Rumiko, as she was thinking, even. But Hikaru _lived_ with Akito. She was close friends with him and, as Megumi saw in many of their memories, was able to get a rile out of him like Megumi was never able to. Even if Megumi was sketchy about any of these memories, Hikaru would be able to do the final test. She knew the best out of, well, probably anyone, really, to tell if Akito was being sincere or not.

Megumi's train of thought was derailed once she did notice a spot in a corner of the room, where two bookshelves met. She replaced the yellow-hazed book on wind patterns on the shelf and walked over to it, scrutinizing its size. It was very large, looked to just take up the amount of room of one person's feet and maybe their knees. Whoever made this signature had to be kneeling, or at least squatting before they fell down onto their knees. It was also silver, no doubt about that, but what was so odd about it was the way it _shone_. It was certainly brighter, significantly brighter than the other signatures Megumi had been reading all day, and the others had made spots float in her vision the entire time. But Megumi was no idiot; she had been reading signatures for almost as long as she had known her husband. She knew what this one meant. It was the reason she had to blindfold herself when she went into a Jump Shuttle station. Someone standing in this spot had done a Boson Jump.

She held her hand in the area where the person would have had to have been to do such a Jump and closed her eyes. Sure enough, she felt the slight density of the air, thick with Bose and Retrospect particles. Whoever had Jumped here either had a tough time doing so, or did it quite a few times. Megumi reopened her eyes and glared at the spot. As bright and signature-filled the parlor and gym were, there had been nothing like this here. And since Hikaru had explained that the parlor was the general hanging-around room, Megumi could only assume that that meant they did not Jump often in the house. That wouldn't be surprising, if it was true. Most of those that lived there were Class C Jumpers, or in laymen's terms, Jumpers that weren't born on Mars, Jupiter, or Ninlan. Instead, they were most likely Earthlings that had undergone nanomachine treatment for some reason or another and had been affected when Inez had inserted the key into the Jump Computer. There were a few exceptions, as not everyone that had undergone nanomachine treatment had been affected, such as the Ninlanders who had gone to Earth to receive treatment, but Class C was the official name for those of Gai's, Hikaru's, Jun's, and many others' situation. As a result, Class C Jumpers were not very good at Boson Jumping. The only people Megumi could ever see Jumping here without major repercussions would be Akito and Hikaru. Hikaru would have wanted to master it, since she seemed to be the one that had embraced her new status as Jumper the most of the group, and Akito was a Martian, a Class A Jumper, and had been able to Jump since before they even figured out the keys to Boson Jumping humans anywhere.

Megumi hit herself on the forehead. Duh, how could she be so stupid? How could she have so quickly forgotten that Yurika had lived here herself for quite some time? Yurika, like Akito, was a Class A Jumper because she was Martian. Not only that, but Yurika was actually an experimental subject; she was one of Nergal's pets, where they swore up and down they were just trying to develop the technology a bit further. Plus, as she had shown at Megumi's own wedding, she neither had any qualms, nor did she feel any repercussions or guilt over Jumping anywhere she needed to be fast. It was something that, once they knew about it, made Rumiko accuse Yurika of murder.

Megumi frowned, pensive. Rumiko and Yurika hadn't really ever had much between them until their wedding, really. And one mistake Yurika had of Jumping to the wrong place at the wrong time just to check on Megumi's little baby had her accused of murdering Ninlan's former emperor. Megumi had a hunch that that was why she was killed. She didn't understand it; would the murders rather someone else be blamed for their ruthless actions? Nevertheless, it just seemed like a chain reaction. Earth and Jupiter sign the Treaty of Mars and the next thing you know, Jupiter's most notorious vice admiral is killed in his own home. Of course all eyes turned to Earth. Probably a soldier that didn't want the war to end, some said. But then Aqua Crimson, a business figurehead that had profited from the war was found dead as well. And, as she was the leading name in distortion field generators, all eyes turned to Ninlan, who was trying to get its own name out there for the same product. Then the former Ninlandish emperor had his lifeblood stolen from him. As evidence showed that she had been in the area, everyone pointed their finger at Yurika. And now... There was no denying there was some sort of pattern here. Megumi just hoped they were right this time, otherwise, Inez, or even Akito, may die.

It was a scary thought. It was already bad enough that each of the murders had hit close to home; she had met each of those killed, either during the war or when the Nadesico was stranded on Ninlan. How much of the former Nadesico crew was going to end up accused of murder, then dead because they were innocent?

Megumi shook her head. No, that wouldn't happen. No more Nadesico crew was going to be killed because they were innocent, but were considered to have done the deed. They had to be right this time. That was why they were here. Not to see if there was anything to condemn Akito, but to make sure that they had the right one behind bars. Megumi closed her eyes and rolled them behind her eyelids to clear her head. She needed to focus if she was going to read this signature in its entirety. It may not help in the investigation against Akito, but it certainly may have helped Megumi get into Yurika's head a little bit more, just to see if she knew something the signatures on Yamada Manor's walls did not. She wiggled her fingers, shivering at the odd feeling of the Jump site particles rushing over her skin and she bent her head. Taking a deep breath, she left the residue of the signature travel up her fingers, her arm, all the way into her head, playing in her mind.

Violet hair, average height, nimble fingers, and dark, laughing eyes. No, not laughing. Leaking. Red. Why won't the leaking stop? Death, that's why. Murder even. No, it was an accident. She hadn't wanted to be the cause of their deaths, but here she was. It was all of her fault. If only she hadn't insisted. Now they were dead, their remains destroyed. If only there was something she could do.

Megumi yanked her consciousness out of the thought trains that so heavily permeated the signature. They were all so negative, and for good reason; Megumi hadn't felt as much sorrow and guilt since she had heard the news. But there was something inherently wrong with it. It was not one of Yurika's signatures, and Megumi had read enough of hers that day to know. Megumi had a fairly certain guess as to whose it was, but she didn't want to take any chances. She pulled herself to her feet, though her legs were shaking, and left the library, heading for the kitchen.

As nervous and thoughtful as she was, she was still very surprised to find Rumiko watching Hikaru stand on a counter. The redhead had her hand deep inside a light blue mass of magical residue. However, she was speaking aloud, something Megumi thought was impossibly while reading signatures. Talking required a different wavelength of thought than reading signatures. One could not read a signature and hold up a conversation at the same time. Megumi knew Hikaru was a powerful mage, but she didn't know she was capable of reading and formulating rational thought simultaneously.

"How-" she began, but she was quickly shushed by her husband, who then looked back up to Hikaru. Megumi realized why Rumiko was listening so intently; Hikaru was speaking, but her voice seemed very masculine.

"Just who does he think he is? I mean, I know he's gay, right? He prefers to fuck people with dicks more than people with pussies. I get that, probably a little better than most. What I _don't_ get is why he wants to treat me like a woman! It's an insult! I don't need taken care of, and most women _I_ know would hate to be treated like that anyway!" Hikaru fell silent, but did not move. Rumiko continued to watch her, concentrating on her words. "No, Junny," Hikaru continued after several moments, "it isn't about the sex. The sex is great. Top, bottom, whatever. _That_ isn't my problem. He just... seems to treat me like fucking porcelain. I can take care of myself, you know?" Hikaru paused, but for a much shorter time than before. "Sometimes... I wonder if he doesn't want me to be someone I'm not." Another pause. "I'm jealous of you, you know, Junny? What you and Yurika have... That's real magic right there. I wish... I wish Gai and I had that."

A few moments of silence passed before Hikaru finally pulled her hand out of the light blue mass, taking a long and deep breath. She then looked down to Rumiko. "Anything?"

"No. Just more griping."

She let out a sigh. "Akito is always griping." Hikaru bent down and held out a hand for his help. He took it and Hikaru used him to steady herself as she slid off the counter. Hikaru brushed off her seat as she glanced at Megumi. "Whoa," she breathed. "You're done with the library and study already, Meg? You've got to be kidding me!"

Megumi, Hikaru's words breaking her shocked spell, let out a small laugh. "Oh, no, I'm not finished in there yet."

"Megan," Rumiko began, "do I have to remind you of what we're trying to do here?"

Megumi covered her eyes with a hand. Sometimes, all she wanted to do was knock some sense into her beloved husband. He was so blunt, yet somehow not quite as intelligent as he would like to believe. He certainly wasn't making this any easier. "No, Rumiko," she hissed, her voice dripping in a venom that hopefully informed him that he was long overdue for a lecture. "I think I may have found something."

It was funny; the other two people in the room were so different, yet they were alike in so many ways in Megumi's eyes. Megumi certainly did not harbor any feelings of love for Hikaru. Megumi did not even know her that well. But Hikaru was very expressive, and Megumi did not need to know Hikaru well to know that the way Hikaru's face dropped, her smile faded, and her eyes widened to know that she was afraid, shocked, and genuinely worried. But Rumiko was not as expressive and could not be read as easily. Megumi simply knew her husband well. The way he knit his dark eyebrows and the way he reached up to fiddle with his glasses told her that, while they had been searching for this all morning, it was quite disconcerting to hear that what they were looking for actually existed. Up until this point, they were just there to make sure they could honestly say, "There is absolutely no evidence that proves or even suggests that Tenkawa Akito killed Misumaru Yurika." Megumi wondered what Rumiko would say when she told him it was in a Jump signature that she couldn't place a name to with certainty.

Rumiko pushed his glasses up his nose and a strand of hair behind his ear. "Where? What is it?"

Megumi swallowed. "In the library. It's not one of Akito's, and I'm pretty sure it's not one of Yurika's, but..." She cleared her throat and looked at Hikaru. "It's questionable enough that I think Hikaru confirming the identity would be a good idea."

"Me?" Hikaru cried.

"Yes. I think I know who it is but... I don't know her very well. You could probably identify it in a heartbeat." Hikaru narrowed her eyes, looking over Megumi's face. Megumi tried to stay as neutral as possible; she didn't need to let Hikaru know how grim the signature was. One needed to be clearheaded when reading signatures and not expecting anything. If one had an idea of what the signature might be, it would be that and nothing more. If they were without a clue, that was how they could get every detail.

Hikaru stopped staring at Megumi. Hikaru sighed and began to leave the room, mumbling under her breath. Megumi watched her leave silently until Rumiko laid a hand on her shoulder. It was then that she remembered her surprise at Hikaru's words. "Rumiko," she began quietly, "what... I mean, how can..."

Rumiko frowned as his gaze followed Hikaru. "She can't read like we can," he said slowly after a few moments passed. "When we read, we have everything. We hear every word spoken, feel every emotion, see every sight, and even hear every thought down to its most basic level. She can't. She can tell who's signature it is if she is close to them, and maybe pick up a few strong emotions, but beyond that..."

Megumi nodded. "I just think it's funny. Isn't Hikaru..."

"Supposed to be one the most powerful mages we know of? Yes. But she can't read. She can't... open her mind up to do so. Personally, I think it has something to do with the fact that she's Aer's. We have yet to train any of hers to read, so it makes sense that we never noticed this before. Besides, it's common knowledge that Aer doesn't really care as much as the others do."

That was it. Megumi understood. "Flamma cares about people, and Magus gets his power from them, and while Aqua and Terra don't really care as much, Aer doesn't even really notice because she's so... flighty, I guess. So... Aer's Messengers can't read?"

"Not entirely. You saw that Hikaru recognized that one as Akito's, right? Well, she can let those around her know what was said at the time that the signature was set. Something to do with their air escaping their bodies as they speak."

Megumi nodded. "She wasn't _really_ talking and reading at the same time. Her talking was her reading." Megumi fell silent. It looked as if Hikaru would be able to do little else but tell her who put down the signature. Megumi didn't know if any words were spoken in the memory.

When Megumi broke out of her noisy head, she noticed Rumiko was now at he door to the kitchen, looking at her and annoyed. "Are you coming or not?" he asked, narrowing his eyes. Megumi nodded and led her husband out of the room and into the library. Sometimes she wondered about his gruffness. She did not particularly like it, but she also knew that he was usually meanest when he was really worried about someone or something. He would never admit it though, so Megumi often wondered if he was worried about her, or someone else. It wasn't as if she was worried about whether Rumiko had another in his eyes or not; she knew he didn't. But ever since they were married, Megumi wondered how much he thought about her.

As they entered the library, they heard Hikaru's voice talking to no one, it seemed. Her voice was a bit more masculine again, but now she was holding a book that, while it was blue, had a shifting red haze around it. "I just can't seem to get rhyme and rhythm down, you know? It's like the one thing in this I can't do. Maybe I should just give up."

"Hikaru!" Rumiko shouted, and the redhead dropped the book.

She bent down to retrieve it, her face flushed. "Sorry, just practicing."

"And I told you that some of these signatures can be very private accounts of what others were thinking and feeling. You can't just fling it around."

"I know." Hikaru replaced the book on the shelf. "Only checking light blues and silvers today."

"Right." Rumiko turned to Megumi. "So where is it?"

Megumi pointed to the brightly shining silver corner of the large, yet sparsely decorated room. Megumi wondered idly how he could have missed it. But she stayed quiet as Rumiko stared where she was pointing. "Megan..." he started.

"Yes, I know."

"Megan..." he repeated, a bit more agitated, yet still incredibly interested.

"Yes, I know. It is."

Despite her reassurances that it was exactly what he thought it was, he turned back slowly and pointed in the same direction. With slow, calculated words, he said, "That is a Teleport Site."

"I know," she responded again.

Just before Rumiko began to scoff and rant about how this was what they were looking for all day, Hikaru tilted her head to the side and interrupted. "How can you tell?"

Rumiko was not expressive, and the change in the way he held his various physical features was slight at best. But Megumi could tell best that the way he narrowed his eyes to match his already knit eyebrows, the way his knuckles turned white from clenching his fists to hold his hands still, and the way his shoulders straightened and posture went from casual to perfect that he was very, very frustrated. To save Hikaru from one of Rumiko's grand and pretentious speeches in which he would gather all of his unpleasant feelings and blame them all on the subject of the rant, Megumi quickly explained. "It's brighter, for one thing. When you initially feel for it, the air around it seems thicker, but that's because there are more Bose and Retrospect particles around. That's what makes it a Jump Site, really."

Hikaru didn't seem to notice any change in Rumiko, but Megumi hardly expected her to. Instead, the redheaded artist wrinkled her nose. "But... I thought that, since the whole house has a huge Jump field running through it, we have Bose and Retrospect particles everywhere. Rumiko said that that is how we are even able to use magic anywhere in the first place."

"That's all true, but incomplete. You see, Hikaru, it takes a great deal of those particles to allow a Boson Jump to take place. Once they collect, someone can Jump, but afterwards, they disperse. That's the only reason why magic can be used so widely; there are chulips taking up space and random particles lying about all the time. When someone Jumps, they call all the particles needed to where they are and make the Jump, making a new cluster of particles. That's basically what a Jump Site is. A stronger signature with a bunch of particles running through it that would not be so abundant in any other signature."

Hikaru nodded. "I guess that makes sense." She grinned. "When did you become so versed in how Jumping works, Meg? Taking classes from Miss Fressange?"

Megumi let herself have a small laugh. Hikaru was trying, after all. "No, no. You have to remember that Jumping came into the spotlight while Miss Fressange and the Nadesico were still missing. Someone they could trust had to explain it to them."

"Hikaru," Rumiko interrupted, frowning and arms crossed, "since it is a Teleport Site, the needs in reading the signature are a bit different. First of all, Megan said that she was not certain as to the creator of this signature. She was only sure that it is not Akito's and that it might not be Yurika's. So we need to establish if it is indeed one of your housemates. Also, the destination would be good for you to work out as well, if you can. As this is your first Teleport Site analysis, I won't be upset if you can't do it. But those are the most important pieces. Anything else is helpful, but unnecessary. Besides," he added with a cough, "if this is indeed what we've been looking for, we'll have to bring in a DNA tester to get substantial proof that it is who you say."

"Get a name, figure out where they were going, let any other details do whatever. Gotcha." Hikaru walked over to the bright silver corner, bent down, and held her hand over the bright light. "Wow, you guys are right. The air is... thick. So thick it feels almost like water."

Rumiko nodded. "Go on."

After Hikaru returned his nod, she let her hands fall slowly into the gray mass. Her back straightened, then curved so her head was bent. Megumi was sure she could hear soft whimpering noises and she wondered if it was Hikaru or the memory that made the sound. She did not have to wonder long, as any words that were drowned in those mumblings quickly became audible.

"It's all my fault. They're dead because of me. I wish... If I hadn't been so insistent to come here, they would be alive, and we would be dead. But I'm not grateful. I wish they were still alive. It's my fault and I'm benefiting from it. How can that possibly be a good thing? How can they tell me that it is a good thing that they are dead because of my actions and I'm living in a much better state without them?" A sob escaped Hikaru's throat, and her words faded back into mumbles. "It's all my fault. The least I could do is go see them. It's all I can do without causing even more sadness."

"Hikaru." Rumiko's voice naming the redhead erupted through the distraught rambling like a train. Even Megumi jumped when she heard his voice. Hikaru physically leapt away from the Jump Site, landing on her bottom and looking from left to right. Megumi was certain she could see tears at the corners of Hikaru's dark eyes. Rumiko also appeared surprised, though whether he was surprised at Hikaru's reaction or his ability to speak after hearing her testimony, Megumi could not figure out. Rumiko cleared his throat to regain his composure. "Well?" he asked. "Whose is it? Where did they go?"

"Oh, _Rumiko_," Hikaru moaned, her voice cracking as she began to sob. "Please. Please." Her words were heavy in both tone and emotion. "You can't do this. I won't let you do this to her. You... You have to let me do it. You have to let me ask her. Please. She trusts me. You have to let me ask her what she was doing, where she was going. Please."

Megumi knew it was the pure emotion in Hikaru's normally high-pitched voice that made Rumiko's hard expression crumble. It was not fear as to what a distraught mage such as Hikaru would do. It was not even caution to handle one so unhappy with patience and gentleness. It was because that voice, not those tears, begged for his permission as a sister, a member of his church. His voice dropped, becoming nearly inaudible. "Hikaru... I cannot grant your request." Hikaru let out a deafening sob. "Not until you tell me whose signature that is."

Hikaru's crying slowed a bit, tears still streaming from her reddened eyes and sobs escaping her lips. She sniffed, wiped her nose on the back of her hand, and pulled herself to her feet, stumbling back a step to keep her balance. She stared at the signature for a few moments, slowing her breathing before wiping her nose again with a sleeve. Megumi was certain Hikaru was not going to tell him when she saw her mouth move. She heard nothing, and wondered if anything was said at all.

"Excuse me?" the Emperor of Ninlan asked, his voice still remarkably patient.

"I said," Hikaru began, her voice still failing her and cracking at every syllable as she turned to face them, "It's Itsuki's signature."

Hikaru stood with a fist poised before the door, the first of a pair of twins from her own bedroom. She had been gathering the courage she needed for this since midday. After revealing the identity of the Jump site to Rumiko, he finally allowed her to speak to Itsuki about its contents, why she had felt it necessary to Jump in the first place, and where she was going. But he had only agreed after Megumi had told Rumiko that she had felt it as a very painful, sad memory, and only a friend could possibly bring it up and receive answers rather than anger.

Still, Hikaru was worried about how this would play out. She and Itsuki were, while friends, not very close. If Hikaru had a problem, she would repeatedly go to Izumi and Ryoko long before she considered Ryoko's lover. Hikaru had a feeling that Gai or Ryoko would know about something that made Itsuki unhappy before she even suspected anything to be awry. How was she supposed to ask her? "Oh, hello, Itsuki. I was just wondering if you'd ever Boson Jumped in the library. Why? Well, Megumi and I found a pretty depressing Jump signature there so we were just wondering what could possibly be sad about your perfect life." Not a chance.

Hikaru sighed and let her hand slip back down to her side. She stood silent, listening to the soft string sounds coming from the room. She knew Itsuki was far from perfect; Itsuki was only human after all. But there was so much about Itsuki's life that Hikaru suddenly felt a little jealous of. Itsuki had a healthy relationship with Ryoko, had a stable and powerful career set for her until she retired, and even had a magic power that allowed her to _create_. It was irrational, Hikaru knew. She had Seiya, after all, and they had a very nice relationship and nice friendship if things went wrong. But... Itsuki and Ryoko didn't have the room for anything to go wrong. Not anymore. They had worked out their kinks early on, and Hikaru just hoped that the honeymoon with Seiya would end soon so they could follow suit.

She didn't want to fight with her boyfriend, but she knew that fighting was inevitable. She had been in enough past relationships to know, and she could be quite the observer if she felt the desire. She just wanted to get it over with so that they could get on to makes some sense of their entanglement. Was this serious? Could this go longer than just a couple of months? It was relationship questions she needed answered as soon as possible, but wouldn't be answered until she was sure their relationship was under evaluation. Maybe that was why she went through guys like water before the war.

But she was jealous of Itsuki for her career as well. Hikaru had been rejected eight times for syndication of her manga. Without syndication, she had little chance to get anywhere she wanted to be. Her doujinshi ideas were running dry, not to mention that while most of her money had come from her porn for Gekiganger, she couldn't do it anymore. Gekiganger had taken a whole new level during the war for her and being silly and drawing naked men having sex just wasn't her thing anymore. Okay, so drawing naked Gekiganger pilots having sex wasn't her thing anymore. Naked men were still okay. But... she wanted something more. Something with more depth that wasn't all flowery and about pretty boys and lube. But she just couldn't do it, not by looking at how much she had been rejected. She wanted to be able to pay Gai back. She felt like such a leech hanging around the house and not getting a job. If she felt like this much longer, she probably would end up the latest female in Yamada Manor to storm into Peaceful Days and demand employment.

But that also tied with Itsuki's musical ability. Hikaru wished she had power like that. She may have been a powerful mage, but that was only useful when the air conditioning was broken. Itsuki could create with her power. If she ever felt the need to do music professionally, Hikaru knew she would be the next best thing. Hikaru's own best talent was her drawing, but even that wasn't getting her anywhere. Sure, she had been a great pilot; how else would she have gotten on the Nadesico? But where was the use of that anymore? The war was over, and it was unlikely she would have to participate in another soon. Itsuki could go places and do things, even if, Aer forbid, Mugendai capsized. Hikaru was stuck hanging around Yamada Manor, eating Gai and Itsuki out of house and home.

Itsuki's life really was perfect.

But that couldn't be. Itsuki had been incredibly depressed about something recently. Hikaru had no idea what this could possibly be, but suddenly she didn't think she could possibly ask the violet-haired violinist what it was. Itsuki may have liked her more that Rumiko or Megumi but... Hikaru couldn't do it. She couldn't ask her.

Just as Hikaru began to turn and walk back to her own room, the door opened, scaring the living daylights out of the redhead. Itsuki stood at the threshold, cocking her head to the side as a strand of her hair fell over the shoulder of her pink shirt. Hikaru's eyes were widened and her breathing had hitched in surprise, and then, worry. Now she would have to ask her. There would have to have been some reason for Hikaru to have been lurking about around Itsuki and Ryoko's room, and Hikaru, an impulsive liar, didn't think that she could come up with something in time. She tried, however. "I... I was just..."

Itsuki sighed and shook her head slowly, closing her dark eyes in the process. She held a hand out and beckoned Hikaru in with a finger. Hikaru couldn't help but notice that Itsuki's nanocontroller still sparkled silver from use; Itsuki had indeed been playing her violin in her room. Its color was almost exactly that of the Jump site in the library, distinctly silver and somehow metallic while still appearing pliable and soft. Itsuki's voice interrupted Hikaru's thoughts. "Come in, Hikaru. I think we need to talk."

As Itsuki turned into her own room, Hikaru felt herself following against her will. She didn't want to have this talk, but she needed to. She was the only one that could do it. Rumiko or Megumi would just piss the musician off, or make her very sad. Hikaru had a feeling she herself would do the latter, but as she had said before to the emperor and empress, she would at least then get answers. That was what was important here, wasn't it? Sparing Itsuki's feelings and yet learning why and where to she Jumped?

Like a few of the other rooms in Yamada Manor, it had seemed like Itsuki and Ryoko's bedroom had not been redecorated as much of the rest of the house had. The furniture was very old-fashioned in design, but all of the woodwork matched in a brightly stained oak. Most of the room sang of red and gold, the pairing of hues in the bed sheets, lamps, and even in the fake flowers on the dresser. Hikaru almost was tempted to take a foot out of her tan slippers and feel the soft blue rug with her foot, the only item of cold coloring in the room. Itsuki didn't seem to notice Hikaru's glancing about the room. Hikaru couldn't remember the last time she had been in here, but she also couldn't remember seeing the room that beautiful in the first place.

Itsuki sat down on the edge of the large bed and glanced at Hikaru. She blushed a bit. "Yeah, I suppose it's a bit extravagant. I just didn't really like the furniture Jiro's parents had put in here. Don't really care for modern style myself. We had this put in only a few months ago though... don't you remember?" When Hikaru shook her head, Itsuki shrugged. "Must have been before you woke up one morning. You do have the habit of sleeping late. Come sit down." Itsuki patted the space on the blanket beside her. Hikaru looked about and, noticing they had no place to sit unlike the other bedrooms, shrugged and sat down next to Itsuki. Once Hikaru was sitting, Itsuki twisted at her perch and laid her hands at Hikaru's cheeks, just resting, but not lax enough where Hikaru could move her head away very easily. "Hikaru. You have no reason to be jealous of me."

Hikaru felt her eyebrows meet and her mouth hang slack and absentmindedly wondered if she looked a complete fool. How did she know? How was it even possible? Did Hikaru have a certain look on her face when Itsuki opened the door that told the musician that she was indeed jealous? "How?" she vocalized, but couldn't bring herself to ask the rest. Her mind was far too busy going through any situation that may have tipped Itsuki off.

The violet-haired woman let out a small giggle and rose, walking to one side of the room. Itsuki laid a hand on the scroll of her violin, which had been leaning against its stand on the floor. Obviously she had just been using it. "I came home from work feeling rather tired, so you could imagine how upset I was when I got to hear Jiro loudly telling me about how Rumiko and Megumi had come to the house to read signatures. I think I heard him say something about you being involved as well, but you know Jiro when he's upset, you can't understand a word he says." She let out a small laugh and turned, a small smile adorning her face. "So, after I took a short cat nap in here, I thought about how I'm one of Magus's, you know. Magus was supposed to be able to read people's minds. That's why Yurika was so telepathic, and why Rumiko was able to try to heal Miss Fressange when she fell ill on Ninlan. So, instead of just playing to relax myself, I played with the intention of looking into someone's emotions." She shook her head. "It wasn't easy. I only had you nearby, since you had come to my door, but I tried anyway. I couldn't figure out what you were thinking exactly, but I could tell you were feeling dread, sadness, and even a little bit of envy. The first two I didn't want to bother you about; I figured it was something Jiro said or something since he was being such an ass earlier and that you would get over them quickly, you know? But the last one... I had to do something about."

Hikaru bit her lip and looked away. She had never felt so ashamed in her life. She had no reason to be jealous of Itsuki, she knew that. But why did she even sit there and think and contemplate all possible reasons why she was? She would have gotten over that quickly with a mere phone call to Seiya. Was it because she wanted to rationalize her fear of talking to Itsuki about what she promised she would talk to her about? The Jump site? Hikaru had a rush of panic. Itsuki said she could tell Hikaru was dreading something. Could she have known already and was just playing with her? No, of course not. This was Itsuki, for Aer's sake. They were supposed to be friends.

Itsuki laid a finger on one cheek. "But what is it you are jealous about, I wonder?" Itsuki said it as if she didn't expect Hikaru to tell her. Itsuki smiled. "Well, I know it couldn't possibly be my comeliness and charm; let me tell you, my dearest Hikaru, that you are most definitely as pretty as a picture."

Hikaru blushed, allowed herself a smile, and shook her head. Itsuki looked to the ceiling. "Well, if it isn't the good effect I have on others... Oh Hikaru," she seemed truly distressed, "it isn't about money, is it? Because you know that as long as you live here everything we have is equally shared, right?"

"I know." Hikaru shook her head. That wasn't it, but Itsuki was getting closer. "Couldn't I just tell you why I thought I was jealous of you for a second out there?"

Itsuki shot her eyebrows up, the utmost curves of them attempting to hide themselves in her violet bangs. She came back to sit down on the bed, still facing the redhead. "That would make this all go a little easier, yes."

Hikaru took a deep breath. This would have to be one hell of a performance. It would explain why she was lurking about Itsuki's room, but it would also delay the talk she would have to have with her just a little more. Hikaru didn't want to hurt Itsuki, and if Itsuki was so sure Hikaru was jealous of her (which she was, but only a little, of course), Hikaru was just going to have to tell her what had been on her mind. Regarding the jealousy only, of course. Hikaru threw herself off the bed and began to pace. What was the first thing she had thought of? What were any of the things she had thought of? Her worry about having to ask Itsuki about her recent Boson Jump had seemingly pushed the thoughts out of her mind.

Relationships, of course. "Well, for starters, I absolutely wish Uri-P and I were even on the same map of compatibility and happiness that you and Ryoko are on." Once that sentence left her lips, Hikaru felt this surge of envy that was so sudden, her hands shook from the shock. She began fidgeting and wringing her hands as she walked to make it seem like nervousness. "I mean, you look at Uri-P and I and you see a lot of things, you know? He's like ten years older than me, for starters, you know? Sometimes I wonder if I'm boring him with my juvenile interests and actions and thoughts, you know?" Hikaru winced. "I just said 'you know' three times in a row, didn't I?" At Itsuki's nod, she brushed the issue away with a sweep of her arms. "Whatever, doesn't matter. But it's not just that, I could easily get over _that._ His kid who might not even be his kid, I could get over that. His ex-wife who is actually a pretty decent chick, I could easily get over that too. I also kind of feel like, since he's so much older than me, I'm resigning myself to him. I mean, come on, look at me. I'm twenty-one. I should be all over this dating scene. Or I should be like all the rest of you guys here and be deeply in love with someone, you know? It's like, one or the other and get out. Should I stay with Uri-P? I don't even know how I feel about him any more than I just like him a lot, you know. Enough to date him and all. And then I have to worry about whether or not I'm just frustrating him with the fact that I'm still a virgin. I'm happy being celibate for the time being, you know? No need for penis in this vagina, you know? But he's used to regular sex, so is it okay that I'm not putting out? I just don't feel right doing that, and my not wanting to have sex lost me a _lot_ of guys when I was in school." Hikaru took a deep breath. "I guess what I'm just trying to say is that there are a great deal of issues involved with me and Uri-P, but it seems like we're just ignoring them, sweeping them under the rug, even. You guys, you and Ryoko, I mean, you guys took hold of your problems and fought them all out until they weren't problems anymore. I just wish we could get on with that, you know?"

Itsuki looked away all of a sudden. "Hikaru. You do know that... All of those arguments and fights... They nearly cost Ryoko and I our relationship."

"But now you guys are closer than ever. 'What doesn't kill you makes you stronger,' you know?"

Itsuki turned back and smiled. "Hikaru, I don't think you have anything to worry about." Hikaru stopped and crossed her arms, facing the musician and waiting for her to continue. "You two are beyond compatible. You see, there are often times when I have no idea what to talk to Ryoko about. Music is what I do, but it usually only depresses her about her mom, or makes her feel guilty that she's afraid to ever practice her magic. But beyond that, what do I have? Stuff with work? The latest book I've been reading? Old things that I remember doing and happening with my friends when _I_ was in school? How much of that stuff does Ryoko actually care about, Hikaru? I know, she probably cares about all of it, but I feel silly talking to her about things she hasn't expressed an interest in. Like I'm wasting her time. But you and Uribatake-san... You have lots of things you both like, like anime, models, or robots. If someone gets tired of one topic, the two of you can just switch to another. There are no times when you're both together and you're both silent because what you want to say or talk about may not matter to the other, are there?" Hikaru bit her lip. The only times when they were quiet was when they couldn't think of anything to say at all, not whenever she was still contemplating bringing something up. She did have that freedom with Seiya; he always seemed to want to know what she had on her mind, and she liked to talk a great deal, of course. Itsuki's smile grew bigger. "You two are going to get married. I can see it."

"Itsuki! Stop it!" Hikaru turned away and covered her cheeks with her hands. They were so hot, she knew they had to have been bright red. She bit her lip. How could Itsuki insinuate something so embarrassing? Marriage was something that was just not going to happen for her. Besides, she didn't even know if she even loved Seiya, anyway.

"My God of Spirit," Hikaru heard Itsuki breathe out.

She turned a bit to look at the violet-haired lesbian, her pale face still reddened. "What?"

Itsuki shook her head slowly, laughing a bit. "It's just amazing. You, Hikaru, are the biggest pervert I've ever met in my life, and I'm including myself in there. It's just funny that you can talk about every sex act you've ever heard of without blinking, but here you are _mortified_ at the mere mention of you possibility getting married to your boyfriend. I just find it so ironic and amusing."

Hikaru smiled, but felt something inside her crumble as she realized why this was so embarrassing for her. Relationships weren't the only reason Hikaru was mildly jealous of Itsuki. "Well," she began quietly, "I've never been able to look too far in the future."

Itsuki nodded. "Me neither."

Hikaru frowned and shook her head, turning to face Itsuki again fully. "You've never had to. You've never needed to." Itsuki's jaw fell slack, though whether it was in surprise or in offense, Hikaru could not tell. She didn't want to say these things. She didn't even know she felt these things. She felt dirty, rude, and disgusting to even think such things about someone she considered a friend, but she could not stop her mouth. These feelings she had hidden deep inside were on the surface, bubbling as she boiled inside. She only hoped nobody would get burned, though that was unlikely. "Everything has been set for you since the day you were born. Before that, even! You were set to inherit a gorgeous house and a fortune and a powerful job and all you ever did to earn it was be conceived! You didn't even have to pop out of your mom before you were even given a husband that would be as powerful and rich as you would be when you were older! You didn't have to worry about any choices you made potentially fucking up your life when all you had were good intentions. Your whole life was set before you and all you had to do was just live it! Do you even realize how much just being born to the right set of parents has saved you from? I worry day to day about how I'm going to be able to make ends meet when you and Gai eventually kick me out on my freeloading ass. I worry all the time if I'll ever realize my dream of being a manga artist. I wonder if maybe I shouldn't be taking my life in stride as much because otherwise nothing is going to get done!"

As Hikaru paused to take a breath, Itsuki's violet eyebrows shot together. The redhead didn't get a chance to continue as Itsuki glared at her, her mouth now tightly closed. "How dare you." A simple sentence, spoken in such an indignant rage that would silence the strongest of men. While at most times she appeared meek, vulnerable, even occasionally the most delicate of women, it was obvious with that sentence who wore the pants in Itsuki and Ryoko's relationship, and it certainly wasn't the tomboyish, angry Ryoko. Those three little words proved that underneath Itsuki's roguish and harmonious behavior, the violet-haired musician and pilot was domineering, filling the shoes her parents set for her perfectly. "How dare you," she repeated, her voice rising in volume. She did not have to speak loudly to be fearsome. She held a hand to her chest. "You think I did _nothing_ to get to where I am? That I didn't have ample opportunity to make mistakes? To change my life for the better or the worse? It was exactly the opposite, Hikaru. I didn't get a chance to even prove myself. Since my life was set for me before I was even born, everything I ever did to change it in any way was just setting it up for disaster, whether it was in my parents' eyes, or if it could have ended my life. Do you think my parents thought my going to a private school for the musically inclined was a good idea? They didn't. I only was able to go because I utterly refused to go to the business school they wanted to send me to. They didn't want my focus to stray. They didn't want me to explore myself in ways other than those they approved. As I result, I grew rebellious. I adore music more than anything. And if you weren't aware, that was also where I discovered my love for women. I'm sure you could understand that that made my parents beyond angry. How was I supposed to marry Jiro if I preferred women? If I didn't marry Jiro, the rivalry would never end. That's what I was, Hikaru. A means to an ends. Can you even begin to tell me that you're jealous of that? And when my parents decided to send me to pilot's school? I'm sure you know the risks of getting nanomachine treatment, even back then. Your body could reject them and make you very sick. People died in the first experiments with nano injections. But they told me to because that was what Jiro wanted. Jiro wanted to learn to pilot the robots his family had been designing. My parents wanted me to still marry Jiro. So they made me risk my life for it." Itsuki shook her head and glared at Hikaru. She never needed to raise her voice. Hikaru still couldn't believe that she was saying these things about Itsuki. It was bad enough that she thought them; what possessed her to even vocalize them? "I've been merely lucky, Hikaru. My own choices led me to myself as a person, not a puppet, and to the only woman I've ever loved to this extent. That's all it is. To be jealous of luck... That's irrational. Almost as irrational as..." As her voice trailed off, Itsuki narrowed her eyes further. Hikaru looked away. Hikaru didn't need to be telepathic, nor did Itsuki, for Hikaru to know what Itsuki was thinking. Sure, any sort of jealousy Hikaru had over Itsuki was irrational; she knew that, and that's why she didn't want to divulge it. She figured she would just get over it. But something made her bring them to light, when that was the last thing anyone needed. Now, she knew, Itsuki had stumbled over the most absurd of them all.

"Hikaru." The sound of her name out of that throaty, yet birdlike voice ripped into Hikaru's thoughts and the redhead stood slowly, entranced. Itsuki took a few steps closer to her, her eyes contracted and her hands in tight fists at her side. "Surely... Surely you cannot possibly be jealous of my... my magic."

Hikaru found her voice as her eyes began to tear up. None of this was supposed to be addressed. She was just supposed to sweep this under the rug like every other little thing she ever thought offhandedly. Why couldn't she have just kept her mouth shut? "It is not irrational," she whispered, not even believing herself. It was irrational. She just couldn't bring herself to keep it under wraps like everything else. Something was coaxing these hateful feelings out, drawing them out with words of reassurance. It would be for the best that you are looked at, understood by all. Everyone will benefit from you coming out. Hikaru knew better, but couldn't keep quiet.

Itsuki held a hand to her forehead, signaling the approach of a headache. "Magus, Hikaru. You are one of the most powerful mages in the world today and you are jealous of me. That doesn't even begin to make any fucking sense."

Itsuki swore. Hikaru suddenly felt the dam break, and she knew she could do nothing to stop the flow of envy and hate she felt for her best friend's girlfriend. She knew it made no sense. She knew it was illogical. But somehow she felt it, and somehow, she couldn't stop herself from saying them. It was as if Itsuki was challenging Hikaru to make sense of her own emotions. Otherwise, they were worthless, and Hikaru knew it. "I have every fucking right to be jealous of your power, Itsuki. It's fucking productive and does a lot more than either provide some slight air conditioning or mess-making like mine does. What's the point of being so powerful if it doesn't even do anything, huh? You can use your magic to create beautiful, wonderful things. All mine does is give librarians and bankers nightmares of losing their pages and papers to it. How can I _not_ be jealous of you? My entire plan in life, all of my dreams and desires require me to be productive and creative at the drop of a hat, on fucking demand, and here's someone that isn't even going to use their Gods-given magic to do the same! It's not fair. You get spoon-fed everything you ever want and everyone else in the world has to bust their asses to even get halfway there."

Sometime when Hikaru was on her soapbox, Itsuki took the liberty to sit back down on her and Ryoko's bed. Her lips pursed and her back straight, Itsuki flipped a loose strand of her violet hair over her shoulder. "Well," she began, she voice venomous, yet still somehow soft, "life isn't fair, is it." Not a question. A statement, and one that said this conversation and friendship was over.

Hikaru's eyes spilled over and she sniffed loudly. She didn't want to be here anymore. She was ashamed of the things she had said in this room. Itsuki was supposed to be a friend, and she treated her like utter shit today. At the same time, Hikaru couldn't believe that Itsuki could dismiss her so easily. What kind of friend ignored the concerns another friend had? Not that Hikaru could consider herself ad Itsuki friends anymore. She had really screwed up this time. If only she had let Rumiko and Megumi ask Itsuki about-

Shit. Hikaru had completely forgotten that she had come here to ask Itsuki about the Jump signature in the library. She had originally wanted to come and do it so she wouldn't upset the violet-haired musician. She had no idea what the subject matter of the situation was to compel her to Jump to wherever, but she had known that it was bad. She wanted to ease into the question with Itsuki, but instead pissed the two of them off and maybe even lost a friend.

Hikaru straightened, holding her shoulders back as she turned on her heel to face Itsuki from the doorway. She still needed to ask her. Even if she couldn't ease into the subject as she had planned, she knew Rumiko needed an answer or Itsuki would be the next key suspect. And as angry as she was with Itsuki, Hikaru knew she couldn't let that happen. She would never forgive herself for doing that to Gai and Ryoko. "Itsuki," she said, keeping her voice level. "Megumi found a Jump signature in the library. It's silver, and yours." Hikaru narrowed her eyes. At least she could do this the way Rumiko would have. She might even get an answer that way. "Where did you go?"

Itsuki's indignant look, with her mouth set into a firm line and her eyes hard and intimidating, softened as her mouth hung slack and her eyes narrowed. It was like she had no idea what Hikaru was talking about, but Hikaru was sure she had seen a streak of fear in her best friend's girlfriend's eyes. The expression did not last long, and Itsuki tossed her head again, running a hand through the violet strands. Hikaru was almost sure that Itsuki was not going to answer her when the soft voice came back, quiet and yet still full of authority. "I don't think I need to tell you that."

Hikaru was stunned. She went through all of that, experienced all that painful emotion and even lost one of her closest friends for _nothing?_ No product at all? Hikaru felt tears well up in her eyes once more and she quickly left the room. She did not want Itsuki, who had seen her cry before, see her now. She did not want to show weakness to anyone but friends, and Itsuki obviously did not want anything to do with Hikaru anymore. Hikaru shut the door behind her and stood in the hallway, covering her face. She was hurt, sad, ashamed, and even still a little angry. All of that for nothing. She sobbed for several minutes, eventually sitting down on the soft carpet of the hall. Hikaru didn't lose friends like that. She hated it. And now even Rumiko was going to be angry with Hikaru for not doing what she said she would.

At the thought of Rumiko, Hikaru felt a rather sudden wave of apathy. What did she care what Rumiko thought? He may have been the head of their church, but he wasn't emperor over her. If anything, he was just her former magic teacher. He could do this himself and probably get a better response out of her. Hikaru nodded. That seemed the best path to go. Hikaru pulled herself to her feet and walked slowly into her room, shutting the door behind her. Fine then. That's what they would do. Rumiko could break it out of Itsuki. Hikaru wasn't going to bother anymore. She just didn't care anymore.

She was just sick of worrying so much.

Akito exited his bathroom with an undyed towel around his waist and another on his head. He rubbed the towel on his head roughly against his brown hair, trying to dry the dripping strands. He usually dried his body in the bathroom and got dressed in his bedroom, and tonight was no different. It had been a long day. Not that he had had work, of course; How Mei had wanted as few former Nadesico crew in this week as possible. He knew she meant well, but not being in Peaceful Days's kitchen made him go crazy, even more so because he had nothing to do at home except mope, try to spend time with a workaholic Jun, and fight with his boyfriend, all the while listening to Hikaru say words that he now probably regretted, but had sounded good at the time. That was what had made the day feel like it had a few extra hours added to it. First Gai had insisted on making him look suspicious to those who seemed the most determined to find this murderer, then he heard Hikaru repeating things he knew he must have said, but either couldn't remember or was too ashamed to admit to them, and then, on top of that, he had to respond honestly to Jun's questions on the words of the song he decided to write for Subtracting Worlds to keep his mind off of Yurika. That was what hurt the most. Jun's song was very personal, and there was no way that anyone but Jun could keep it in context. Just the mentionings of some of the times Jun had shared with Yurika that Akito had no idea about made him feel uncomfortable. He could just imagine how his band would respond on Saturday. Akito had yet to meet this band in the first place. Of course, it was understandable. Jun had only officially met them the night Yurika was killed, and there was a lot that had happened in the time since then. Aqua, was it only less than a week?

As Akito pulled on his heavily patterned underthings and dropped the towel around his waist, he heard the bedroom door open and close softly. Akito didn't even bother to turn around to see who it was. It had to have been Gai. Everyone else knew one of the important rules: if the bedroom door is closed when more than one person sleeps there, knock first. It had taken an incident where Izumi had just barged in on Akito and Gai to set the rule, but it was a rule everyone could live with, "for the sake of virgin eyes," as Hikaru had put it during that awkward breakfast. As there was no knock, Akito could tell it was his overbearing boyfriend. The desire to not make noise in closing the door told Akito that Gai did not want to make Akito angry. It was a defensive move Gai usually made after they had an argument earlier in the day. Akito knew his parents just took different sleeping quarters when they were having an argument. Akito thought it was wise, but Gai thought it was stupid. So, even if they were not speaking to each other, they still managed to sleep in the same bed. Akito pulled a white t-shirt over his head.

Just as Akito had his pants with red dots in his hand, arms wrapped around his waist and a body was held against his back. It wasn't a sexual embrace; Akito knew Gai well enough to know the differences in how Gai held himself. Right now, his boyfriend was unsure of how to approach Akito, wanting to apologize but not knowing how to surrender his pride. As Gai began to nuzzle his nose into the off-white towel on Akito's head, Akito pulled Gai's hands off of him. "Gai... stop it." he muttered, yanking the towel off his head and dropping it onto the floor unceremoniously. His hair was still wet, but he wanted to get dressed as soon as possible. He didn't care if he dripped on his shirt anymore. He yanked on his pants roughly, a fingernail scraping his thigh. Once the waistband was secured around his hips, he turned to glare at his boyfriend. He didn't even know why he was angry. Their discussion from earlier in the bar rang in his mind. He knew Gai didn't care about what people thought, almost to an extreme. But did he even care what Akito thought? What people thought about him? What people thought about Akito? That stuff usually didn't matter, but this time it did. Akito was being investigated for the murder of his childhood friend. Compliance, even if you didn't want to do so, was necessary to deter from others thinking that you were capable of killing someone you once thought you loved.

Gai furrowed his brow. "You can't possibly still be mad at me."

"Oh, can't I? I'm pretty sure you know I am." Akito walked back into his bathroom and opened his contact lens case. He watched his boyfriend in the mirror as he took out one lens, and then the other. "I'm pretty sure you'd've figured out by now that it takes a little more than just avoiding me for several hours and not making noise to get me to get over something."

Gai sighed, shaking his head. "Akito, don't be like this."

"Don't be like what?" Akito turned and leaned on the counter of his sink. "I think I have every right to be like this, Gai. This isn't something little, you know? Rumiko and Megumi wanted to prove that I hadn't cut off Yurika's head, okay? Do you think you can understand that? Do you think you can get just that little sentence through that thick skull of yours?"

"I am not stupid, Akito. Don't you play me off to be so."

"Oh, really. Then what was with that display this morning, huh? What made you think that was a good idea? You could have seriously fucked me over, Gai! And all because Rumiko wanted to do something you didn't like?" Akito stopped, at a loss for words. He shook his head and walked back into the bedroom, turning down the blankets and sheets on his side. He took his glasses off of his nightstand and opened them, placing them on his nose. "I'm just lucky that Rumiko didn't find any of my random ranting that seems to still be recorded in the house to be of any merit. I can at least give him that much for being able to tell the difference between actual hateful rage and me just being pissed off." Akito sat on the bed where he turned down the sheets. He made no motions to actually get into bed, though; he just crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes at his boyfriend through his rectangular black frames.

"Well, what do you want me to do, Akito? I'm sorry for what I did and said this morning, but there's nothing more I can do. Do you understand that? You may still be pissed at me, but there isn't any way I could possibly make it better!" Gai was waving his arms with every point he tried to make, and Akito had to admit, to expect him to magically go back in time and change what happened was a little unfair. Well, even if their world had both magic and time travel, neither of them worked the way that had been conceived in the movies, with Gai just being the bane of electronics' collective existence and Boson Jumping requiring to have happened already.

Instead, Akito crossed his arms and frowned. "I want you to actually think and use your brain before you say things. Is that too much to ask? I know you really just don't care about much of anything, with maybe the small exception of my honor and Itsuki-"

"Now wait just an Aer-damned minute. I do care. I care about a lot of things. I care about you. I fucking _love_ you. And I care about Itsuki. But I also care about Jun, Hikaru, Izumi, Ryoko, and I even cared about Yurika."

"But you don't care about impressions. You don't care what kind of messages you're sending to people with your actions. You don't care how what you do or say could mess things up and ruin the people you say you care about."

"Well, maybe you just care too much."

Akito sighed. Gai just wasn't listening to logic. Akito pushed his legs under the sheets and blankets and let them gather at his waist as he leaned back against the headboard. He reached over to his nightstand and took the yellow hardcovered book, opening it in his lap. He hoped that Gai got the message: that he had lost and unless he was willing to admit it, the discussion was over.

The book was mostly about how one could use Aqua-style magics in the home. He was mostly interested on seeing if there was a way to change the temperature of a house as big as Yamada Manor, but this book seemed to only refer to other books that may or may not cover the subject. As a result, Akito was only half-reading the list of books and authors that could cover the subject. So he saw Gai walk over to his side of the bed and kneel next to it. Of course, he also could help but notice the large hands that now rested on his arm. Akito glanced over to see his boyfriend frowning, his eyebrows furrowed. Gai parted his lips and mouthed, "I'm sorry," before resting his head on Akito's arm.

Akito sighed again. He closed the book and took off his glasses. "Gai. I just want you to think before you act. I don't think it's much to be asking of you. I know, you have a real problem with me asking you to do things. You think I'm being some kind of power-hungry bitch or something. But this one isn't just about me. Right now... we don't need anything to make us look questionable. We've all interacted, at some point, with one of those killed by these guys. We're lucky that we're not the most suspected, you know? I'm not saying any of us are involved, but... we don't need it. So... I'd really like to you to think first, then act, or speak. Please. For me."

Gai sighed and raised his head. He looked tired, his eyes rather glazed over and his face stressed. "Okay. I will. I'm so sorry, Akito. I... I do care, you know. I love you. I always will."

"I know." Akito sighed again and closed his eyes. Gai began to kiss his cheeks, tentatively, until finally taking his mouth. After a soft, warming kiss and embrace, Akito let out a small smile. "I love you too. We just have to hope they don't still think that I had any part in this horrible tragedy."

With all due respect and purposes, Prince Notsumote Ariko of Peaceland really just did not give a damn about the main ideas of paragraphs. He didn't even care that there would be a test, and an essay test at that. He just sat at his desk as his language arts tutor continued to speak about how the main idea of a paragraph could be at the beginning, the end, or just about anywhere in the paragraph. You just had to be looking for it to find it. What utter and complete, awe-inspiring magic it was that Dr. Jerrik Russo could accomplish with some simple highlighting of text on the computer hooked to the projector, so they could all see. Ariko worked out a set of tangles he found in his wavy silver bangs in order to draw attention from the yawn he could barely suppress.

Luckily, or perhaps unluckily for Ariko, the tutor's attentions seemed to be mostly trained on his classmates, all three of them. Since Ariko was no longer first in line for the throne, there was no need to isolate him from the pompous and nearly brainless children of Peaceland's nobility, who also had to attend private lessons. Peaceland, being barely a true country of itself, barely had anyone to hold titles. As a completely commercial state, it made sense that any sort of political power not held by the ruling monarchs and any sort of elected officials the people who lived and worked there voted into office went to the investors, with more power going to those who "donated" more money to Peaceland's cause of "promoting" peace via the use of entertainment, an escape from one's nation's taxes, and the ability to buy a great deal of different merchandise at elevated prices. Needless to say, Ariko was a little more than frustrated with the way his country of birth was run. Having summer classes with Count Akio Sands of Peaceland, Lady Yasmina Boman of Peaceland, and Lord Saito Eugen of Peaceland made it even worse.

Akio was a count only because, in the event that none of the Notsumote line could produce an heir, he was to gain the throne. Of course, being ninth in line with a near certain possibility of being pushed back even further didn't make the graceful, Danish-Japanese noble-boy any less power-hungry and scornful to Ariko, who was merely second in line since Ruri was found. Ariko thought maybe, one day, Akio would ragingly hang himself with his mass of black braids, but it was indecent for a prince of his stature to think such things. Or so his mother said. And Ariko was not one to agree with his mother.

Eugen was remarkably the least intelligent of them, asking mostly questions answered a mere five minutes prior and appearing confused for a great amount of the time. He had the same sort of background as Akio, but he seemed to project his Danish side a bit more, with his deeply set green eyes and short blonde hair. He was a big kid, and it wasn't because of any fruit snacks his mother let him eat when he was younger. Even if he was too stupid to understand that their tutor was usually only teaching to him, it didn't stop him from realizing that he had more worth if he was big and powerful. Ariko wondered if, once they reached a more mature age, Eugen would continue to try to beef himself up. Ariko mentally gagged as he realized that these two would be his mother's prime choices for Ruri's husband, once she was old enough. Ariko couldn't see Ruri with anyone at all, let alone either that vindictive Akio or that meathead Eugen.

But if Ruri wasn't with anyone and she never produced an heir herself, he would get the throne when she finally stepped down. He also knew his mother, the one who insisted she plan them this way, would know that. His father was all for Ariko eventually dating Yukina. But the queen... she would rather see her first son with Lady Yasmina. And Ariko would rather die or run off with Yukina.

It wasn't as if Yasmina was ugly; quite the opposite, really. She had gorgeous yellow-green eyes that were a bit disturbing to look at, they were so catlike. Ariko remembered seeing her once with long, wavy brown hair that he thought was really pretty. Now, however, she kept it relatively short and dyed black. It was obvious that she had come into puberty a bit early; she was taller than even Eugen by a few inches, and already her figure had began to blossom out. And the only reason Ariko knew this was because Yasmina made it very clear that she was ever so in love with him. Even now, as Akio glared at him and Eugen scratched his head, Yasmina batted her dark eyelashes at him and blew him a kiss. She was an athletic girl, which kept her from blossoming out too much, but she also wasn't very smart. She was a perfectionist, however, which made for a bad combination. She couldn't get the hint that Ariko was just not interested in girls, but also increased her effects tenfold every time he reminded her. She was incredibly annoying.

But it wasn't so much Ariko wasn't interested in girls as it was... Ariko wasn't interested in girls. He was only turning twelve next month, after all, and girls just weren't high on the priority list. He did seem to have a soft spot for one girl however, but Ariko was afraid to tell Yasmina that. The jealous rage he feared Yasmina would go on would land her in Peaceland's juvenile court, which was one of the strictest on the planet. A past rise in graffiti and crime surrounding adolescents had caused the rules governing it and, as much as the girl drove Ariko insane to the point of screaming, it wasn't something he'd wish on the hopeful would-be queen.

Growling under his breath at Yasmina's incessant flirtations, Ariko wished for the three-hundred, seventy-third time that this class was over and he could email Yukina. He was so sick of trying to find something in his life that was so significant that he could write it in a real letter. The only thing in recent history that was so significant for him... well, Yukina had been there, at the funeral two days ago. In her silver dress, no less. Ariko was thankful to their former captain for not throwing him off immediately when he requested a tour around the ship and the Nadesico received an urgent distress call from the moon. He was also thankful that he was allowed to work under Uribatake, even if he was a prince, but that was less Yurika and more Prospector. But he knew that their former captain meant a great deal more to those he cared for, such as Ruri, Omoikane, Yukina, Minato, and Uribatake. To Ruri, Yurika had been a mother. A spastic, out-of-control, cry-baby mother, but as Ruri had said yesterday when Ariko accidentally walked in on her looking through her photo album, "you can't choose your mother. She just is." Ruri respected Yurika for going with her orders, and at the same time, disregarding her life to end the war that had caused them all so much pain. Omoikane respected Yurika for her love for Ruri and for her strategic choices, choices Omoikane himself couldn't logically explain, but kept in mind that they worked. Whether he was a sentient robot or not, he was just a strategy program to begin with. Minato and Uribatake had let Yurika defend them, had let Yurika do what she would with their lives, and took where she led the crew and the Nadesico as gold. Not once did Ariko hear of Minato irrationally blaming Yukina's brother's death on Yurika for agreeing to go and make peace with the Jovians. And Uribatake... There was much that he did for the Nadesico that Ariko knew he wouldn't have done if Yurika hadn't allowed him the freedom. She was more than a figurehead and someone who shouted, "Fire the Gravity Blast Cannon!" to them. She was their hero and savior.

But still, Ariko couldn't... connect with his former captain. Not even through Yukina could he do so. Yukina loved Yurika because she was one of the first people to accept Yukina for who she was, whereas Minato was the very first. Yurika liked Yukina in spite of her being Jupiterian, even while the rest of the crew, except for Minato, was still a little wary of the girl who had come to start peace negotiations. But even then, Ariko couldn't feel much sadness for Yurika's death. It was sad, he knew, especially since she had been murdered. He couldn't believe that part, but it was still there. She had her whole life ahead of her, and she was killed before she could even marry her fiancé. In fact, she was only twenty-three.

Ariko shuddered to himself. All right, that was another thing on his list of things he never wanted to happen. He definitely wanted to live longer than twenty-three. Even Uribatake was older than that, and he was probably one of the few people he looked up to. Heck, even Minato was older than that. And there was so much he wanted to accomplish before he reached that age, from the usual things like having his first kiss and girlfriend, to wild things like designing his own robots, probably under Mugendai. He knew Uribatake worked there and designed things for them, and with his experience, his former mentor had been given no limit on his budget. If it went into his designs for the newer frames Ariko knew Mugendai had to be working on, money was no object.

No matter how much the thought of working with machines again excited Ariko to a point where he had to cover his mouth to hide his smile from Dr. Russo and Yasmina, it was the relationship-oriented rites of passage he couldn't help but look forward to more. The older his sister got, the more he believed she would never have a boyfriend, or have any interest in males. Ariko didn't want to be like her, with her best friend, no offense, being nothing more than a glorified computer. Ariko knew he had Yukina. Oh sure, they weren't actually together, but they both seemed to like each other a great deal. Ariko thought Yukina was cute and entertaining. He even thought that sometimes she was absolutely gorgeous, like when she was in her Pentakami clothing. Silver wasn't Yukina's color, but she wore the gigantic, smothering dress as if she had been wearing it since she was young. She looked fine no matter what she wore though. Ariko thought she was especially attractive when she was bored out of her mind.

Ariko knew he was too young to be thinking about girls. He wasn't even twelve yet, and wouldn't be for another month. It wasn't until fall that he would be upgraded a grade level in all of his lessons, and that's only if he passed his next-level entrance exams. But it wasn't that he really was thinking of girls, more like just one girl. One cute, Jupiterian girl that was two years older than he was.

There, that was another thing he wanted to do before he died. Ariko suddenly sat up straighter and focused his eyes on the instructor's slides, still not even paying attention. He wanted to go to Jupiter. It was the one place he hadn't really been to. He also knew he wanted to go with Yukina. She may not know where everything was in the Holy Jupiterian Empire, but it would be a great deal better than going alone. And Ariko was sure he wanted to see it all, from the space stations, to the moon colonies and associated asteroid bases, to even the stations and bases that floated inside the planet's atmosphere, including the ancient factory that helped Jupiter's forces nearly decimate the Earth's forces during the war.

Ariko didn't like war, though he had wanted to have an active role so much. But he did know that he loved machines, and there were a great deal more opportunities for someone with such a love now then there were ever before. Of course, there was no war, so there was little demand, but progress could not be stopped just because there was peace. Everyone wanted something new, especially with the discovery of magic and the mechanics of Boson Jumping. Ariko shivered, an idea forming in his head and giving him goose bumps even though the white shirt he wore had been too warm for him all day. If someone could implement these two Jumper abilities into a machine that Jumpers could handle, or better, even non-Jumpers, that person would be heralded a genius.

It wouldn't be too hard. Ariko was a little afraid of how easy it really did appear to be. To design it for non-Jumpers was a little too difficult, especially since no new technology to aid in piloting machines since nanomachines had come up. That was beside the point. Just to design it for Jumpers would be simple. Way too simple. Ariko shuffled some papers around on the table he sat at, biting his lip as he felt eyes on him. Wait, this was his language arts class, not mathematics. He wouldn't have any decent graph paper to doodle sketches then. He cursed himself and pretended to take note of what Dr. Russo was saying as the old tutor glared at him. He would have to just plan it out in his head.

Ariko let his eyes go out of focus once again as he envisioned the different Aestivalis frames the Nadesico used. Finally settling on the Zero-G frames to alter in his head, he noted what places held hidden rocket propellants. He needed a space where the frame could eject Chulip Crystals, or at least contain them for any Jumps they were to perform. At first, he thought he could place them in the head. He couldn't necessarily think of anything that was inside, or any use the head of an Aesti frame other than for decorative purposes. But how would he get it to eject the CCs so the frame could Jump?

Ariko resisted the urge to smack himself on the forehead. Of course the CCs couldn't go inside an Aestivalis head; that was where the guidance computer was held! He would need to find another place. He couldn't think of any, really, that would be effective in an emergency. Worst case scenario had actually happened before, he knew. He wasn't there, but he remembered the story of when Akito, Yurika, and Megumi had gotten themselves almost lost in space. Akito had to jettison nearly every part of his Aesti until the cockpit pod was all that was left, which also included the head. He needed to place the CCs where they couldn't just be jettisoned away, or a place where they couldn't easily be destroyed. Inside the cockpit would be best, but then the Retrospect particles and Bose particles could interfere with the machinery inside. Also, there would be almost no way to eject them so they could create an effective Jump field.

In his mind, Ariko examined the other transport devices a Zero-G frame had. This ended up being basically the thrusters and the emergency solar sail. Ariko contemplated putting them near the thrusters, then decided against it. Not only were the thrusters easily jettisoned and destroyed, if need be, they also generated a great deal of heat. Ariko didn't know what sort of heat would be needed to melt a CC, or even a bunch of them, but he didn't want to risk it. Instead, Ariko thought about the solar sail. He had only ever seen them in use once, and that was during one of their late captain's complex battle strategies being played out. Then, they weren't used for an emergency, but rather as a way for the Aestivalises to move without using their thrusters and being detected. Ariko figured that Boson Jumping would probably be used this way, if they could get Aestivalises to do it correctly. Jupiterians had been able to equip their Daimajins to Boson Jump, but they were almost always bulky and difficult to pilot, Ariko knew from research. They were also expensive in a way that Aestivalises weren't.

Back on the subject at hand, Ariko liked the idea of storing the CCs near the solar sail. The solar sail was actually stored inside the cockpit pod, so even if the rest of the robot was trashed, the pilot inside could still eject the solar sail to travel by. If this was the case, Ariko thought the pilot should also be able to eject CCs this way. He made a small note on the paper he was pretending to write notes on and moved on.

The toughest thing about making a frame that accommodated the recently discovered Jumper abilities had to be the use of magic. He knew that some Jumpers wouldn't be able to use this feature purely because of the power they had. Ruri wouldn't be able to, since she healed with her magic. Yukina wouldn't be able to, since she had to borrow the power of someone else first. But pilots such as Akito, or Ryoko, or Itsuki would, since their power was independent and would be at least relatively useful in battle.

There was another problem with that. Though they were officially defending the Earth, Ariko recalled that a great deal of their fighting was also in space. Since he was using the Zero-G frame as a base to modify, he took this into account. Wait, wouldn't that mean that some pilots wouldn't be able to use their magic is space? Pilots like Ryoko and Hikaru needed ground and atmosphere to use their magic effectively. Just not using magic in battle wouldn't be a problem for Ryoko, but Ariko knew Hikaru, as one of the strongest mages among them, would want to be able to use her magic in battle no matter what. This brought up a very big problem. How were pilots that had magic that modified the environment be able to use they magic in space?

Probably the same way anyone was attacking everyone else at the end of the war, in missiles and other conventional weapons.

Ariko's brain stopped. Of course. _Of course._ It was so simple. Missiles that had been previously loaded with one's magic before the battle and loaded into... where? Didn't matter at the moment. Loaded into the Aesti for use during the battle.

But how often had they been able to guess when there was going to be a fight? They'd have to have the things redone all the time, and not all the pilots would have enough time or energy to do so every waking moment they weren't piloting. That, and having the missiles sit around full of magic that could break out of the missiles any second was unsafe. Ariko shook his head. No, they would have to be created and filled right before use. The only option, then, seemed to involve having what could only be described as a miniature missile factory inside the Aestivalis.

But where inside the robot would be efficient? The arms would always be good, since they were pretty large to begin with. Then they could fire the missiles out of the hands. That would work out very well since Ariko knew most Jumpers used their hands to perform magic, so it would feel more natural to them. Ariko ignored how to actually design the missile-filler and launcher as he noticed another big flaw in his design: suddenly, the hands were useless except for firing the missiles.

If there was any time for Ariko to swear, that was it. He took a deep breath instead. The hands would be rendered useless, and for most pilots, that would seriously mess up their attack strategy. And not just for pilots that used hand-to-hand to fight like Ryoko either; pilots that relied on firepower like Izumi wouldn't be able to use all of the Aesti's weapons anymore, especially since most of them had been designed for the robot's hands to use. Ariko sighed. All of this seemed like it was for nothing, suddenly. If only he could make it so the arms could be replaced with normal Aestivalis arms.

...Why couldn't he? He mind started rushing again. Even if the frame couldn't use magic with the other arms set in, it would allow the pilot to choose whether or not they would have mobility or power, without sacrificing... what? If they don't want the power, couldn't they just use another frame?

But the other frames didn't have Boson Jumping technology on board. And this one could be optimized for Jumping in the first place, with fewer mistakes so it wouldn't be lost for a number of months, or show up where it shouldn't.

"Your Highness!" Ariko's excited, inspired thoughts were interrupted quite rudely by the voice of his language arts teacher. Ariko felt the blood drain out of his face as Dr. Russo glared at him and he heard Yasmina giggle. "Your Highness," his tutor began again, at a more level tone of voice, "have you heard a single word I've said in the past hour?"

Ariko blushed and bit his lip. He honestly didn't know, couldn't remember what the lesson was even about. His head had been too busy redesigning the Aestivalis frame with new abilities, and he could barely even remember what class this was. His mind had been too preoccupied.

At the first prince's silence, Dr. Russo nodded slowly. "I thought not." He glanced first to Yasmina, then to Akio, and to Eugen. "You three are dismissed for the day. I'll see you tomorrow for your weekend assignment instructions." The three other children began to pack their things as Dr. Russo turned his attention back to Ariko. "Your Highness, I'd like to speak with you... and your mother."

Ariko groaned softly as the tutor walked out of the room himself. He was in big trouble if Dr. Russo wanted to bring his mother into this. And he couldn't even explain what he was daydreaming about, as his mother would tell him his has more important things to worry about and he's a child, besides. He should leave that sort of work to the adults. He could hear every point she would make in her voice.

But none of it really mattered. He needed to do some drawings and technical sketches of this new frame. He wanted to take it to Mugendai. Perhaps they would know what else was needed, or perhaps they would even take his design and build it. Because he wasn't just a kid. He wasn't just the first prince. He was also Uribatake's student.

Omoikane couldn't have been absorbing power for more than ten minutes before his slumber was interrupted by a soft sob. Omoikane opened his eyes and noticed that a light was on. He pulled himself into sitting up on the sofa he had lied down on in Ruri's room and yanked on his power cord, pulling it out of the outlet he had plugged it into for the night. With his cord disconnected from the wall, his senses woke up, no longer only using power to siphon it from the wires in the wall. He blinked as his vision switched on entirely, growing from darkness into absorbing the light that was emitted from the lamp at Ruri's bedside. He blinked his eyes a bit, getting used again to looking through the lenses that mixed colors appropriately so he could see clearly.

Ruri was sitting up in bed, her rainbow patchwork nightshirt sliding a bit off a pale shoulder as she held a black book in her lap. It wasn't the right size for a real book, and the thickness of the pages within told Omoikane right away that it was Ruri's photo album. Most people would have several photo albums, having pictures from their childhoods, their school years, and maybe even from the war. Ruri only had one, and it only contained pictures from the Nadesico.

Omoikane couldn't help but also notice that Ruri was crying quietly.

It had been like this for the past few days, ever since the funeral. Ruri would just stare off into the distance, and begin to cry. It agitated her mother, Omoikane knew, but the queen never really said much about it. Ruri didn't wear any black in the past few days, but she was barely ever smiling. So Omoikane tried not to panic as he saw the girl he loved, his controller, in pain. Instead, he padded softly to the side of the white-and-pink bed and sat next to Ruri. "Ruri-sama... you have tutoring in the morning. Political science."

"I know, Omoikane." She sniffed. "I know. I just... I wanted to see her." She placed her finger underneath once of the pictures on the page. Omoikane glanced over the silver-haired girl's shoulder to see that this snapshot was of Yurika's profile. Their former captain was dressed in the off-duty uniform and had her eyes closed. She probably didn't even know this picture was taken. "Do you remember, Omoikane, on the Nadesico's first trip to Mars?"

That was the one section of his life that was fuzzy. He remembered that they left Earth's space... but how they got through the Big Barrier, he couldn't remember. Probably the same way they went through when they stole the ship from Nergal, using an access code. But he did remember that stretch of time after the Nadesico left L2 and was headed straight for Mars. A great deal happened then, including a great deal of funerals. He remembered that time fondly for all the games he and Ruri played. He nodded slowly, unable to keep the smile off his face. "Yes, I remember."

"Somebody took this picture and gave it to me. I think it was Megumi. Do you remember what she was doing?" Ruri didn't wait for a response. She nodded herself and wiped a tear from her cheek, letting out a small smile. "She was trying to let go of Tenkawa-san. She only tried to do that after Megumi kept teasing her about kissing Tenkawa-san. I thought Megumi was so cruel, but now I see that she was only playing. It's sad that Yurika couldn't see it that way." Ruri sniffed, and laughed a bit. "I remember that Yurika was upset that it was her duty as captain to do funerals. She was so tired and she felt like her only real purpose was to perform funerals." She shook her head. "Then Megumi said that that wasn't her only purpose. Yurika had to perform wedding ceremonies too." Ruri laughed sadly, like someone trying to find something funny about the story to make the person telling it happy. Omoikane smiled too, but did not laugh. He did not eavesdrop on conversations... much. He hadn't heard that one though. He thought it was cruel of Megumi to say that. He didn't say any of this though. He knew Ruri was too tired and too upset to try to read his thoughts.

Ruri closed the photo album slowly, staring at her hands. Then she turned her gaze to Omoikane. His heart broke and all he wanted to do was embrace his controller at the sight of her red-rimmed eyes. She pushed back a strand of his synthetic hair, looking him over. Omoikane didn't feel embarrassed to have Ruri check over how he looked, though he had basically looked the same since the fateful day when she gave him life outside the ship's computer. But now she frowned, narrowing her amber eyes as she glanced over his face. She held his chin and turned Omoikane's face so she could see the other side. She seemed to be looking for something, but Omoikane didn't know what. "Ruri-sama?" he asked, prompting her to elaborate.

She shook her head. "It's nothing. It's just..." She glanced him over once more before finally releasing her grip on his chin. "I've never noticed how young you look."

Omoikane knew what she meant. When he was built, he was built to mirror Ruri's age at that time, which was around thirteen. It had only been about a year and a half ago, and they actually experienced much less time than that, but it felt so long regardless. Ruri had begun to mature nicely in that time, her hair growing out a bit so now it brushed her waist when it was loose, her chest filling out softly and making it a bit harder for Ruri to fit in some of her old dresses, and even her mentality and desire to be more than just the first Electronic Fairy. But Omoikane had been at her side all the way, just as it should be. She may not have created him, or even built him his body, but he would never leave her side. And because of that, he had grown and matured as well, he hoped.

"...Am I so young?" He could not bring himself to ask it at a tone louder than a whisper.

Ruri rested a hand on his shoulder. The nanomachines in her blood sang to him, not connecting them per se, but reminding him that they could be at any moment. "No. You know that. You know why." She shook her head. "But you look like Ariko."

Omoikane smiled. Ariko would be celebrating his twelfth birthday in almost exactly a month. "Well, I guess I do."

"Maybe... when Uribatake-san is not busy... we could ask him to upgrade your body."

If Omoikane had a heart and a stomach, he knew one would have collided with another at that moment. Instead, he had to settle for widening his child-like eyes behind his thick frames, "Do, do you mean it, Ruri-sama?"

Ruri nodded. "I would hate to see my oldest little brother bypass you in growth. I think, if that happened, it would be difficult to see you at any other age. I would like it much more if you grew with me in size, just as you did in mind when we were little." At Omoikane's nod, Ruri placed the black photo album on the nightstand. "What would you like to look like, Omoikane?"

Omoikane never gave it much thought. The way he looked now was both because of Uribatake's necessity and of Ruri's wants. Sure, the glasses frames were a bit annoying, but he knew they were there to fix his vision so he could see colors more clearly. Sure, it was rather annoying to have the mop of hair he did, but he knew Ruri secretly thought it was cute. "I don't know. I've never thought about it."

Ruri hummed and frowned, removing her hand from his shoulder. She propped her chin up with a fist, her elbow on her thigh. "Well, obviously, you should look older, but how much older is the question."

"I think," Omoikane interrupted, suddenly having an idea, "I should look several years older than you."

"Eh?" This seemed to surprise Ruri enough that she emitted a sound before she could form a rational sentence. Omoikane couldn't blame her. In the human world, someone older was usually in charge. They both knew that Ruri was the controller in this situation, with her being human and he not, but it wouldn't show very well to others.

But Omoikane wasn't human. He may understand how the human world and society worked, but it didn't stop his mechanical instincts. "Yeah. That way, even when you get up to the age that I look, and bypass it, I would still be able to go a while before needing another upgrade. It's more efficient that way."

Ruri nodded slowly, understanding. "I see. You're right, it is more efficient that way." She fell silent and looked away. After a few moments, her gaze returned. "I think you should be tall." Omoikane nodded quickly. He liked the sound of that. He would be able to see over things that Ruri couldn't, reach things that Ruri couldn't, and... Omoikane tried to not squeal in glee at the idea of being able to hold Ruri because he would be larger than her, for once. In his imagining how things would be if he was just a bit taller than Ruri, he didn't realize that Ruri had asked him another question until he felt her enter him, her hand on his. _Enough._

He nodded quickly and focused back on the external environment. "What did you ask, Ruri-sama?"

"Is there anything else you'd like to change? Your eye-color, for instance, or hair-color? I think it would be nice to do away with these," she lifted her hand from where she trapped his and traced a finger on the frame of his glasses, "but we would only be able to do that if the lenses in your glasses have been made so they can be smaller."

Omoikane never gave much thought to his appearance. But he did now. He pictured in his head how he had seen himself in mirrors before. Straw-colored synthetic hair that was messy and almost a bit too long. Electric blue eyes that matched the lights that flowed in them when Ruri used him. Skin a tad darker than that of the Peaceland heirs, but not as dark as that of Uribatake and Gai. Mostly made up of head, arms, and legs, he had always been a bit gangly, but that was due to the target age he was built at. His nose was a bit wide at the base, and his jaw seemed to match it a bit, making his face appear more square than heart-shaped like the Peaceland heirs'. It made sense; he was built to Uribatake's necessity and Ruri's wants. As that last thought entered his mind, he decided to change nothing. This was what Ruri wanted her friend to look like, or it was really close. If it was what Ruri wanted, he would back it up all the way. "I would only like to change whatever you wish to have changed," he finally answered, completely sure. It did not matter to him how he looked. If Ruri wanted him to look a certain way, then so be it.

Ruri blinked, surprised. Then her expression softened. Omoikane knew that she had just then realized why he said what he did. She nodded slowly, her hand coming back to his face and holding a cheek. The nanomachine interface underneath the rubber skin awoke at her touch, and celebrated as it confirmed with Omoikane's mind that this was, in fact, Ruri. Their Ruri. His Ruri. Her hand slid down his chin until their connection was severed, her hand resting in her lap.

Omoikane couldn't bear to be without her, untouched, unconnected. He thought back to the week before and remembered how her kiss had connected them in a way that seemed almost impossible. He could be with her in the most primal form. He could be with at the base of her being, where her decisions were made and carried out. Where she as a person existed. No matter how the images she had shown him there had frightened him, he longed, ached for that connection again. And it was that ache that made him try to place his rubbery lips to hers, to connect them so he would never feel like he was without her again.

"No." The simple short word stopped Omoikane in his tracks. He could not defy his controller. But oh, how he _wanted_ to.

"Why?"

"I can't." Omoikane heard the tears in Ruri's voice and went to examine her expression. Her eyes were welled up, but none tracked down her cheeks. The pale skin revealed she was red, but not from embarrassment. He had caused _that_? Could she ever forgive him? "I can't... I can't, Omoikane."

"Okay. I'm sorry, Ruri-sama."

"No, it's not your fault. I can't... You don't understand, I just can't."

"...Can't what?"

"I can't fall in love with a robot."

Omoikane nearly leapt back. She couldn't fall in love with a robot, a computer, _him._ Of course she couldn't. Why... _why hadn't he realized this before?_ She was a princess, it was only natural that she would have to continue her bloodline to keep Peaceland's rule under her and not to any of her brothers. Not that Ruri was very interested in ruling the country that was more a joke than a political power. But that wasn't just it. She wasn't just a princess, wasn't just the heir to the throne. She was _human._ Human fell in love with humans. That way, they could continue the species. The functionality of it was so textbook it was infuriating. And since he was not a human, she couldn't possibly ever love him like he loved her. If he had been human, he would be in tears now, he knew.

"Omoikane, I'm sorry." Ruri truly did sound sorry. Omoikane didn't want her to be. It was not her fault. He was simply... created, instead of born. She deserved a human. A human who could allow her to have children. A human who would grow alongside her and not need "upgrades". A human who could be king to her queen.

"It's okay. I knew that. I'm sorry I've been bugging you about it."

"Omoikane-"

"No, Ruri, it's okay." He swallowed as he stood, pulling himself off the pink and white sheets, quickly enough so Ruri couldn't stop him, but slow enough so it didn't seem like he was running away from her. He would never leave her like that. She was his Ruri, but it was only now that he realized that he would have to give her up someday. "You have political science tutoring in the morning, Ruri-sama. You should get some rest."

Ruri was quiet for a long time. Then she nodded. "All right, Omoikane. Good night." Her words were slow, and hand-picked so they would let Omoikane know that she was still sorry and that this discussion would come up another day. But for now, she would reluctantly follow his lead. She reached over and turned out the light, but Omoikane knew she wouldn't go to sleep right away. They both had a lot to think about.

Omoikane sat down on his couch and laid down his lanky, mechanical body. His power cord slid out of his back and into the outlet in the wall. As he powered down to siphoning mode, he wished with everything he had that he could be human for Ruri, someday. Even if it was just partially so, even if it was just for a moment. He would give anything to be really, truly human for the girl he loved more than anything.

Jun walked into Animal Studios reluctantly late Saturday night. Showing the security guard his badge, Jun swallowed as he thought about the last time he was here. It was for his interview to become a songwriter for Subtracting Worlds, just last week. It wouldn't, shouldn't have felt so long ago, but since then... his whole world and future had changed.

Despite Hikaru's and his own efforts to keep him from doing so, Jun had thought a lot about the last week. He went over what-ifs and should-haves. What if he had been called in for an interview at a more regular time? What if he had been there when they had attacked? He should have been there to protect her like he swore he would. What if he declined the position after last Saturday, especially since it seemed like late on weekend nights was when he would go in. He should have never left. He knew how bad the neighborhood was. But that had nothing to do with Yurika being killed. She was another tally in what the news stations and police were starting to call the "Jumper Murders", and she was marked from the beginning, it seemed.

Right after she was killed, Jun wanted to quit this job on the spot. He had only gotten it so they wouldn't have to be dependent on just Yurika's income, but if his house was still considered a crime scene and he was no longer going to marry his Martian goddess, what was the point? After the funeral, however, Jun had realized that he needed to get over this. He needed to move on. A week was a short time to expect anyone to move on, though, so he instead distracted himself. He worked on songs for Worlds. He worried over Akito and Gai's disagreements. He worried about how Hikaru and Itsuki didn't seem capable of getting along. He read like no tomorrow, reading through one science fiction novel, one romance story, a historical novel, and two mysteries. That afternoon he had started on third mystery he had found in Yamada Manor's library.

He wasn't trying to forget. He knew he could never forget Yurika, ever. She was his first love, his first real kiss, and even the one to finally introduce him to the wide world of sexuality, something Jun was sure pissed Hikaru off. At the thought, he let himself smile as he stepped onto the elevator that would take him to Worlds's third floor studio and pushed the button. He would never forget Yurika, ever. And certainly not before her killers were caught.

It was surprising. After the funeral, Jun couldn't bring himself to hate Yurika's killers anymore. After the ceremony, he just seemed to... let go. He was so worried of doing so because of his magic, really. It wouldn't be very nice to thank his friends for taking such good care of him by setting their home on fire. But he knew if he were to completely let go of his emotions, all his anger and sadness and loss, something would burn. But the ceremony allowed him to finally let go. That single leaf he set fire to as he told everyone there how much Yurika meant to him was enough. Now, he just wanted to move on. And part of his wanting to move on made him a little bit worried about how he, someone who hadn't really been filled with much hate and anger as he used to be, someone who was considered delicate at best at the moment by those who cared about him most, someone who always somehow felt an outsider except in Yamada Manor and the Nadesico, was supposed to fit into a moderately angry rock band.

The elevator stopped and the metallic doors slid open. Jun sighed and took one step off the elevator and into the hall.

And promptly regretted it.

A small, female body smashed into him from a full-force run, nearly knocking the two of them to the floor. Instead, Jun lost his footing and the woman before him held him up in front of her. "Jun-kun, darling! You're just in time to save me from the psycho killer!"

Jun finally was able to see that the back-up vocalist and guitarist was hiding from the inverted-triangle body of the leader of Subtracting Worlds, Kano Anzai. The redhead pushed his feathery bangs out of his eyes casually, placing a hand in his pocket. "Umeko, I am not psychotic and I'm not going to kill you. I'm just going to..." He held both hands in front of him and interlaced the fingers harshly, all the while gritting his teeth, "skin you a little."

"Jun-kun! You have to save me! Hidekazu won't, and you're my last hope!"

"Hidekazu won't help you because he knows I'm right. Besides, was insulting my mother really necessary?"

"It was if you're saying I'm a horrible guitar-player!"

"But you are, Umeko-chan. I've told you that from day one."

"If you we could just calm down for a few minutes!" Jun cried, not knowing where the courage came from. He pulled the dark-skinned pixie of a girl out from behind him. "Now, I don't know what's going on, but I'm not going to be used as a shield, Miss Johnson!"

Both vocalists seemed surprised at Jun's outburst, so surprised that they didn't seem to notice another person emerging from the open door Anzai stood near. He didn't look much taller than Jun himself, but what Jun noticed was that he was dressed from head to toe in orange, where Umeko was dressed in mostly violet. He smirked, the cherry-red beard at his chin shifting. "My God, Anzai... you found someone that actually can tell off Umeko. And you say he will be writing songs for us?"

"Lyrics, yeah," Anzai concurred, finally realizing another person was adding to this conversation and crossing his arms across his dark jacket. The man disappeared back in the room. Anzai came forward to retrieve the gaping Umeko and wrap an arm around Jun's shoulders. "Do you realize what you've just done?"

Jun's mind reeled. This was like at home, only somehow even more insane. "Broken your back-up vocalist?"

Anzai let out a loud laugh and patted Jun on the back as he led them into the studio. "No, but you might someday, who knows. No, Hidekazu likes you. You know how hard it is to get him to like you?" When Jun shook his head nervously, Anzai elaborated. "When we met in high school, everyone said he hated me. But I wanted to start this band, see, and I knew Hidekazu kicked literal _ass_ on bass. I needed him. So, to try to get him to like me, I gave him comics."

"The wrong ones, mind you," Hidekazu added as Anzai shoved his ex-girlfriend to her current boyfriend. Hidekazu sat her down and continued leafing through a pile of sheet music.

Anzai nodded. "Took me about four tries before I got the kind he actually liked."

Jun nodded slowly, trying to absorb. Had he possibly been worried that he wouldn't fit in? This was looking more and more like when Jun had been collected into the pilots' group while he was on the Nadesico. Fortunately, Umeko hadn't felt it yet necessary to show him her breasts to get his attention. Jun wasn't sure if Hidekazu would kill her or him first, in the event of that happening, but he knew he would be high on that list. He just knew it.

Hidekazu finally found what he was looking for and handed it to Umeko. She seemed to wake up then and looked up to her standing boyfriend questioningly. "Study it. It's what we're doing tonight." At Umeko's nod, Hidekazu approached Jun and held out a hand. "Kumagae Hidekazu."

Jun nodded and took it, giving it a quick shake. "Aoi Jun."

At the mention of his name, Hidekazu dropped his hand like it was on fire. Jun checked his hand with the other to make sure that his magic hadn't randomly been breaking out. That was one of the last things he needed. But instead of nursing a possibly burnt hand like Jun was worried about, the redhead bass player stared at him as Jun had just declared himself the queen of France and was making clothing illegal. "You are shitting me."

"Huh?"

Hidekazu didn't get a chance to elaborate, as their heads turned immediately to the door leading into the room. Yet another person had entered, but his identity was far from a mystery. Since he had to be the last member of Subtracting Worlds, he had to have been Kiyomitsu Johnson, the drummer. But even in the off-chance that he wasn't, his dark skin, short and thin build, and tiny feet gave him away as Umeko's little brother.

As he walked into the room, Umeko stuck out a leg, almost tripping Kiyomitsu. "Hey, what took you so long? I thought you were just going to the bathroom."

"I was, big sister, but I caught Sato-san on the way back. He was leaving for the night."

"Oh, yeah," Anzai said before pulling Jun away from Hidekazu and toward the door. "We'll have to introduce him to our new songwriter this week. You know we're usually in here from about six until whenever someone gets tired enough to go to sleep." At Jun's nod, he shoved him toward the apricot-haired drummer. "Kiyomitsu, this is Jun."

"You mean, you're really Aoi Jun?" Kiyomitsu didn't get to introduce himself -not that he needed to- as Hidekazu was staring at Jun incredulously again. "Seriously?"

Jun nodded. Umeko swiveled in her chair and nudged her boyfriend with the toe of her violet shoes. "Hey, what's up with you, Hidekazu? You look like you've just met Suzuki Wakaki!" Suzuki Wakaki, Jun had learned from Hikaru recently, was a rising star in rock music, with the "voice of both a devil and an angel", or so their resident wind-mage said. It didn't surprise Jun that Subtracting Worlds knew of this guy. He didn't really like his music, it sounded too much like yelling and screaming.

Hidekazu ignored her, took a step closer to Jun, and took a hold of Jun's right hand. He bent the fingers down to face the back of Jun's hand towards himself, and Jun regretted that he hadn't taken to wearing gloves. It had been a while since Jun had been reminded that he was a Jumper living in a world that did not yet accept them wholly as the people they were before the unlocking of the Jump Computer. He wished he hadn't taken this job, that he had had the common sense to wear gloves.

"Yeah... You're him, all right." Hidekazu released his shaking hand. He actually looked afraid. The thought of someone that seemed as dangerous and hard as Hidekazu afraid of a frail man such as Jun was odd. But then Jun saw the streak of sympathy and pity in his brown eyes. "Your... your fiancée was killed last week, wasn't she?"

Jun felt his breathing hitch and his eyes fill with tears, but he didn't will it to be. The last thing he wanted to do was show his weakness. He came here and still wanted to work to keep his mind off of it, not to have it come up, not to have to talk about it. Now he saw the shock and surprise and sadness on the other members of Subtracting Worlds. Umeko looked like she was close to crying herself. "Jun-kun... she whispered. "Is this true?"

Jun swallowed. He would not let his voice crack. "Yeah. Yeah, she's dead. She was stabbed in the chest three times," another swallow, "and decapitated."

Umeko's hands flew to her mouth as she gasped. "My God," Jun heard Anzai mutter. Jun just shrugged. He couldn't let it out. He couldn't. The sadness and loss and hopelessness... if that was let out, who knew what would still be standing?

He felt a hand on his shoulder, and Jun turned to Umeko's little brother, who was only about the size of Ryoko or Itsuki. "Hey, Aoi-san, you know we're here for you if you need anything."

Jun nodded. Umeko stood, nodding quickly to concur with her brother. "Yeah, Jun-kun. If you need, like, a place to stay or an advance in cash or something..."

Jun shook his head. "No, I'm fine. I'm staying with my friends again, rather than at my place. It's still a crime scene."

"When did this happen?" Anzai asked, his voice heavy.

"Last Saturday."

"Shit. While you were here?" At Jun's nod, Anzai shook his head slowly. "That's bullshit!"

"Yeah, well, what're going to do?"

The members of Subtracting Worlds looked at each other, apparently speaking with their expressions. Kiyomitsu was the first to speak up. "Hey, were you that guy that wrote 'Here and There'? Good song, man. We've been working out music and tone for it all week."

Anzai perked up, and gave Jun a fast smile. "Hey, yeah, man. You want to hear what we have so far? We were going to be poking at it a bunch tonight anyway."

Jun allowed himself a smile, but he knew it was bittersweet. "Sure." They were trying to cheer him up, and they barely knew him. It was heart-warming, and at the same time, a little heart-breaking.

Jun sat himself in the same seat Umeko had been perched in as Subtracting Worlds moved to the back of the studio, picking up instruments and turning on amplifiers. It was so comfortable, and because of that, Jun couldn't let himself just relax. It was so much like home that Jun wondered what would happen if people from both sides were to meet. They barely knew him, and he had only been a name under theirs for a week, but they already felt his loss with him and wanted to help him out. Not that he really needed help.

He just figured, as Umeko started a series of repeated notes on her violet electric guitar, that it was remarkably easy to find friends that would do a great deal for you. You just had to have the same cause. Though whether the cause was the safety of Earth and the Nadesico or the creation of music didn't seem to matter. The wallflower was finally able to bloom.

Pity it was only after the death of what he used to follow like the sun.

TBC...

--- 

A/N: So, what did you think? I'll try my best to get the next chapter out, but I can't promise anything, with school and all. But I bet it may be as long as this one when I get done with it. Don't worry, the end of the story is coming soon, I promise!


	32. Chapter 32

Ryoko checked the door leading from the gym to the parlor once more to make sure it was locked before going back over to her bag and pulling out her masking tape. She desperately needed to think and be alone, and this was one of the few ways she knew she could be and do so. If she went back to sleep after she had eaten one of Akito's large and filling lunches, she may or may not be left alone. If she decided to sit down at one of the many pianos in the house, she knew for a fact she wouldn't get any privacy or the quiet she needed to think. Under the guise of trying to keep her muscles finely toned, she would be able to make her punching bag take care of her body while she thought to herself. No one would bother her willingly, not after she almost strangled Jun for interrupting a few weeks ago, but with the door locked, she would be able to guarantee that no one would come in.

Ryoko indeed had a lot to think about, but the subject of what she needed to contemplate was a bit odd, and not one she ever thought she had to come to. It had nothing to do with Yurika, her death, or her killers and how they still ran free, though that still angered Ryoko a great deal. It had nothing to do with how her stepbrother was becoming just as much of a workaholic as Hikaru, or how Izumi seemed to take to doing nothing but playing video games and reading, though she was worried about them too. It had nothing to do with whatever Akito and Gai were fighting about this time, though the dirty looks Akito had been giving and the random apologizing Gai had been doing was starting to grate on her nerves. No, this had everything to do with a war that pulled her from both ends: the war between Itsuki and Hikaru.

Ryoko didn't know what the hell happened between them, but their picking on each other, their insults that usually led to screaming matches, and talking about "that bitch" behind the other's back was really driving Ryoko absolutely insane. Itsuki would tell her about how Hikaru has been doing nothing to contribute to the household, and Ryoko would later hear Hikaru go on to her about how Itsuki didn't seem to realize that it was Gai's house and not hers. At meals that they ate together, or if they were in the same room, they would either act as if the other wasn't there and say rude things in front of them, or pick on what they were wearing or doing, or go from whispering and muttering names under their breath to shouting them and slamming doors to punctuate them. Needless to say, this argument, or whatever the hell it was supposed to be, was causing some serious disharmony in Yamada Manor.

It wasn't unlike them all to fight on one time or another. Though they usually all got along, it was a little hard to remember that they were all very different people. No one else but Gai had had his hair styled after an anime character. No one else but Akito had such an extensive knowledge of how everything in the Yamada Manor kitchen worked or where it was. No one else but Ryoko seemed to use this room. No one else but Itsuki would go out of her way to bring an instrument to breakfast because she had a dream that featured a piece of music she wanted someone to identify for her. No one else but Jun would pester them in the more spring-like days to come out and play catch with him. No one else but Hikaru kept a diary without words. No one else but Izumi knew the titles of every book in the library, where each was, and what was missing in such an extensive book collection. But never before had they gotten so verbally violent at one another.

The only arguments the residents of the mansion ever had that was even comparable to the way Hikaru and Itsuki were treating each other now were from when they were still on the Nadesico, when Ryoko and Itsuki were going through a rocky period in their relationship, or when Akito and Gai broke up. Ryoko might have been able to compare this newfound hostility to whenever Gai and Akito were having a screaming match of something-or-other, but Gai and Akito's relationship was nothing like Hikaru and Itsuki's. Itsuki and Hikaru were not together, and most of those boys' anger came from the two of them being so. So where had this sudden hatred they had for each other come from?

Ryoko had never seen Hikaru this pissed at anyone in her life. Hikaru was not even this unabashedly mean to any of her boyfriends when they all left her. Hikaru was, for the most part, easy-going and calm. But here was the redhead, calling Ryoko's girlfriend every name in the book. It wasn't as if Hikaru never got angry about anything. Ryoko knew that Hikaru had quite a temper, but she had learned from her time with her grandmother to keep it quiet and under control, particularly when it had to do with her own personal issues. What confused Ryoko the most about this was that Hikaru was just so very passionate about her flaring dislike of Itsuki. Whatever happened between them, Ryoko knew that it had to have hurt Hikaru deeply for her to retaliate so strongly.

But what could Itsuki have done to hurt Hikaru so? Ryoko knew that it was her blind love for the violet-haired musician that told her that Itsuki would never hurt one of her best friends. In all reality, Ryoko could understand that Itsuki and Hikaru had a disagreement. She could understand that maybe Itsuki inadvertently insulted Hikaru. It hurt her to think so, but she could even see Itsuki maliciously attacking Hikaru if Hikaru did something that Itsuki didn't like. Ryoko loved Itsuki more than anything, but she also knew that Itsuki was a proud and nearly spoiled individual. Ryoko probably knew better than anyone but Gai that Itsuki was not one to not get her own way. But Ryoko would have expected the woman to show a bit more maturity when faced with a peer.

Ryoko frowned, but did not slow her unconscious movements. Maybe that was it. Maybe Itsuki _didn't_ see Hikaru as a peer. It wouldn't be too hard to believe. Hikaru was unemployed and trying to break into a shaky career, while Itsuki was a rich and powerful head (or one of two heads) of a stable company. And with nearly a full year having passed since the Treaty of Mars, Ryoko could imagine how Itsuki could easily forget that Hikaru was actually a very talented Aestivalis pilot. Ryoko also was very well aware how Hikaru was a much stronger mage than Itsuki, so it was still an odd thought to believe that Itsuki looked down on Hikaru. But Itsuki disregarding and not listening to Hikaru would be a really quick way to make the artist hate her guts.

Ryoko growled under her breath as she spun and kicked her favorite punching bag, her foot reaching over her head. She wished she knew what the hell happened. It would help her understand what was going on so much more. Instead, she had to listen to them both belittle each other and call each other unflattering names whenever she tried to make heads or tails of the situation. Instead, she had to speculate. Instead, she had no idea. And without knowing what had happened to start the hostility and the hate, Ryoko just had to suffer as one of her best friends in the world and the person she loved the most in the world battled it out.

Ryoko brushed a strand of green-and-black hair from her face, her sweat making it stick and itch. She wished she had someone to talk to about this. She really did. As it stood, for this particular problem, Ryoko had no one. She froze as she realized why. The only person she would have been able to talk to about this and ask the advice of would have been Yurika. Anyone else Ryoko trusted... Izumi was too close to Hikaru and would probably tell her to dump Itsuki on the spot. Gai was too close to Itsuki and would tell her to kick Hikaru out. She didn't want to worry Jun any more than absolutely necessary and she didn't feel comfortable bringing this up with Akito. Ryoko, for the first time in her life, had no one to go to with her troubles.

She punched the swinging bag of sand once more as her eyes welled up. Never before had Ryoko felt so lost. She never really trusted her judgment as a person. Her judgment as a pilot came from her training. Her judgment as person, someone who felt things and had friends and loved people... she always had someone to ask the advice of. She usually followed that advice to the letter, too. But now... she had to think for herself, and any course could potentially hurt two of the people she loved most. For the first time in her life, Ryoko was absolutely afraid.

"Yurika..." Ryoko whispered softly, allowing herself to sick down into a sitting position, wrapping her moist arms around her legs, her light pink pants absorbing the excess sweat on her skin. In the past week, all she had felt when thinking of the woman she was to Assist in her wedding was anger: indignant, blinding, flaming anger and hate that Ryoko felt only for the Jovians after destroying Satsuki Midori. Now, that anger dissolved into emptiness. Ryoko had a void in her now. She didn't have that person to ask the advice of. She didn't have that person wholly unconnected from her that she could go to to hear her troubles. She didn't have that person who respected her for her leadership qualities and her abilities as a pilot. She didn't have that person who liked her despite having to get to know her first, instead of knowing all about her before hand, or knowing her since they were very young. Yurika had been all of that for Ryoko, and all she had asked for in return was for Ryoko's consent for Yurika to wed her stepbrother.

A single tear escaped her left eye and she wiped it away quickly, rubbing her eyes to get rid of any others before they could follow. Ryoko wasn't supposed to cry. Ryoko was supposed to go on without her. That's what Yurika would want. Ryoko was a leader; she needed to act like one. Leaders didn't get all weepy because their support beam was gone. They recovered quickly, because what happened after a loss was wholly dependent on their actions. Yurika wouldn't want her to be like this, she would want her to take charge, console her stepbrother, let life go back to business as usual, and not even attempt to get in the middle of Itsuki and Hikaru.

Ryoko blinked. And not even attempt to get in the middle of Itsuki and Hikaru. It was so simple. Don't take sides. Just... let it run its course, unless it turned violent and needed someone to get involved. That would be exactly what Yurika would tell Ryoko to do. That would be the advice their former captain would give her, if this problem was brought to her. Ryoko's heart began to beat fast and a small smile began to play her features. It was as if she had taken a refreshing nap and was ready to face the world. She felt so rejuvenated by the simplicity of this course of action Yurika suggested.

No, Yurika didn't actually speak to her from beyond the grave. Ryoko knew that was bullshit. But even though they hadn't been as close as Ryoko was to Hikaru or Izumi, Ryoko knew that Yurika would say exactly that. Ryoko knew what sort of advice Yurika would give her. Ryoko just wanted to hear it from her mouth. But she didn't need to. She could do this. She could go on without her own leader, and be a calm and composed leader for the residents of Yamada Manor. Don't get involved. Don't make it your business. Just go with it and only get involved if you need to.

Ryoko rose to her feet and unlocked the gym door. She didn't care what names they were calling each other, what they were saying or even thinking about each other. This would pass soon enough.

---

Ever since the last time Inez saw Izumi, Inez had had no visitors. She would certainly be hard-pressed to say she saw no one; the attorney Nergal gave her, the investigators coming for a statement that she refused to give, and even the judge begging her to show up and give a plea of either guilty or not guilty had all come to see her. But she wouldn't call them visitors, either. And all through their questioning and counsel, Inez kept quiet. Not saying anything at all that could drive them to see her as innocent or guilty. It was the way she wanted it to go, after all. They wanted to know why someone would call them and tip them off to her possibly making all the killings. They wanted to know whether she said she was involved or not. They wanted her to give an alibi or a statement that she was just unprepared to give at this time.

She knew her cell in the heightened-security jail would not keep her safe forever. She was only supposed to be there until either someone posted bail, which she requested did not happen, or until her trial, which would not happen until she gave her plea. That wasn't going to happen either. Inez was content to stay right where she was, with the dingy jumpsuits and questionable food and the surly cellmates that seemed downright afraid of her. The thought made her smile as the tense guard led her to the same room she was in to speak with Izumi. They should all be afraid of her. She was, after all, a Jumper.

This thought train was derailed immediately when she saw who had come to visit her. In her deep red pants suit and black hair just beginning to trail down her back, the last person Inez expected to see as a visitor was Erina. They had gone out of their way to disassociate themselves with each other soon after the war. Inez was with Izumi, and Erina had had similar flings with Yurika and Kaguya. Any conversation they had had to be strictly business or it could be possibly construed the wrong way. Inez did not want to make Izumi jealous. But this case, this crime, made them separate even further out of fear: they did not want to be suspected. Inez snorted humorlessly. But here she was.

The guard she was with did not need to gesture to where Inez was to sit as she spoke through the dingy white phone to Erina, but she did anyway. Inez ignored this insult to her intelligence and sat down gracefully, setting her face to not betray a single emotion. She had become excessively talented at appearing stoic this past week; she did not want to give heads or tails to anyone who spoke with her. Not that she needed to hide what she did or didn't do to Erina. Her ex-girlfriend knew what Inez had done to be here behind bars and refusing to go to trial. Inez could tell this just by looking at the freshly powdered face she had seen for a great deal of her childhood. The way Erina knit her dark eyebrows, the way her painted mouth was attempting to stay in a firm line that quivered a bit at the edges, the way her eyes were wide and possibly even shining with tears that were birthed out of Erina's own fear of what was before her, the testament of the time, the greatest scientist of their time suspected of multiple murders, even assassinations. Inez wasn't being arrogant; she knew that was only one of a few reasons that she was in here. She knew another was because she wasn't completely innocent in this.

Still, even she was surprised at how sallow her skin had become in the short week as she watched her hand wrap around the white phone receiver and pull it to her ear. Erina quickly followed suit with her own black end, the other hand rising to cover her mouth. Inez let the left side of her mouth tilt up in her smug smile, the exact smile she knew Erina had originally fallen in love with. "Good morning, Erina. I trust you're doing well?"

"Oh, Inez," Erina practically groaned in response, her eyes rolling into her head. "I've missed you so much."

"I know. You sent Jitinder, didn't you?" Jitinder Munkir was one of the best lawyers in Nergal's collection. Inez remembered specifically hearing that he fought specifically for the Nadesico crew to be released, and for Jun to go free from the so-called unprecedented death of Akatsuki Nagare.

Erina nodded slowly. "Rumor has it that you are not accepting his counsel, that you're completely ignoring his advice for you to plead not guilty so the ball could get rolling for the trial." She sniffed in a very undignified manner. It was a gesture that Inez was surprised to see. "We need you back, Inez. Why don't you just do what he says?"

"Because it would be untrue."

"You haven't killed anyone, Inez!"

"Not directly. But you know probably better than I do that my actions have caused more than one of those dead to be so."

Apparently Erina didn't have a response to that. She rested her forehead on the heel of her hand and stared at the desk in front of her. "Inez, if you stay there any longer, you'll end up dead too."

"I know."

"I don't want you to be killed, but I can't predict the future."

"None of us can."

"How can you sit there and be so calm!" Erina shouted, pulling her head up and glaring through the reinforced glass at the blonde scientist.

Inez bent her head slightly. It was an odd, but good question. Her composure was nothing less than shocking to even herself, but she knew she had to keep this up until she could be sure that it was over. That she was safe. Safe... from the woman on the other end of the phone line. Safe from her tyranny. Safe from her knife. Because her life, and the justice of many, was on the line, she was calm because she had to be. There was no other reason for it. "I can be calm because the only person that put me in this position was myself."

Inez couldn't tell whether Erina was feigning shock or not. But the way her jaw hung slack, the way her entire face relaxed save for the eye muscles widening told her that Erina at least wanted to look like she hadn't a clue. In all actuality, Inez couldn't really tell if it was fake or not. She was sure that it was so obvious. Eventually, Erina found words again. "You mean... you were the anonymous tipper? The person who called in to police and said you were involved in the murders? You put yourself in here?" At Inez's nod, Erina clenched her free hand into a fist. "Why? Why would you do such a thing? Why would you put yourself here? Why would you do that to all we had? We could have changed the world, Inez!"

Inez felt her mouth turning up into a humorless smile. She had her reasons. But she also knew Erina would not accept them. Still, she had to give at least the biggest one as to why she would put herself at mercy of the justice system. "To protect myself from you, Erina."

Erina didn't get a chance to respond as the guard that led Inez into the room rested a hand on the receiver, pulling it gently from Inez's hand. "Sorry, Dr. Fressange, but time's up." Inez nodded slowly and rose to her feet, ready to be led back to her cell. She knew Erina wouldn't believe that Inez would let herself into this world to escape from her, but Erina also didn't realize how simply frightening she was now either.

Inez just had to hope that Erina didn't come to take her life anyway, just because.

---

Minato reached for the remote control and turned the television up a bit. She was watching a beauty pageant while folding their laundry and it didn't take long for her to realize that to watch anything on TV while sorting socks and folding button-down shirts, she had to compete with two very opposite sides of the house. From Yukina's room, she could hear the soft notes of the jazz and blues she was to practice singing for her chorus classes when school started again next week. From the room Toju was using, she could hear the guitar riffs and recorded shouting of one of his live records. It was all very symbolic, Yukina just trying to keep some semblance of normalcy by working on her summer homework, Toju being unknowingly distracting, and Minato just trying to keep order in the war between her adoptive daughter and her brother. Minato sighed as she pulled Yukina's baggy denim dress from the laundry basket. As much as it hurt her to think so, Minato personally couldn't wait until Toju went back home to his campus. The pure tension in their house was killing her, especially since Yurika was killed. Minato didn't know how long she could hold up against the pressure of her daughter and her brother fighting like children and the need to be the responsible, stable one in the family. Minato wished she could just sit down, have a good cry, and indulge in ice cream and bad movies, just like she would when she was sad as a teenager, which happened a lot back then. In fact, the lack of being able to do so made Minato wonder just when her life changed so much.

_"Oh my God of Spirit!"_ The completely unmusical shout that had erupted from Yukina's room startled Minato and had her on her feet before she noticed she had just knocked over every towel she had folded thus far. Much like a deer, Minato leapt over the laundry basket and ran to Yukina's room, not knowing what to think. Apparently, she also had Toju on her heels, the shout probably intriguing him just as much as it worried Minato.

As she reached Yukina's bedroom door, she almost collided with the Jupiterian girl, Yukina flinging her door open and attempting to rush out just as Minato made it down the hallway. Yukina leapt back and widened her eyes. "What?" It was only then that Minato noticed that she had her eyebrows furrowed and was frowning: her worried face.

Minato shook her head softly and allowed herself to smile. She really did have quite the maternal instinct. Here she was, getting worried over nothing. "Why did you shout, Yukina? You had me worried that you hurt yourself."

"Hurt myself?" Yukina made a face. "No. I was taking a break and... Aw, man, Minato, I'm so happy, you don't even know." She grinned, then looked past Minato to where Minato knew Toju was standing behind her. "What do you want?"

"I heard you yell. I wanted to know what was so important to loudly blaspheme and wake up any of my kindest sister's neighbors."

Minato rolled her eyes and sighed loudly. She knew Toju was just baiting Yukina again. Usually, she let it go on, figuring that it was best if the two of them worked out their problems alone, they would get along, someday at least. But now, she hadn't the patience. She too wanted to know why Yukina cried out, but also was very curious as to why Yukina was grinning her head off. "Toju, please," she sighed again, turning to glance over her shoulder at the little brother she practically raised. What had ever happened to that sweet boy, anyway?

Toju raised both hands in surrender and took two steps back before turning fully and heading back down the hall to the extra room that he had lay claim to for the season. Minato sighed again, watching her kin throw his own little hissy fit before directing her attentions back to Yukina. "What happened?" she said as calmly as she could. She felt the corners of her mouth betray her intentional concerned expression. The smile on Yukina's face was so incredibly infectious, and when coupled by the twinkle in her eye that Minato was sure came from Toju's temper tantrum, Minato could barely keep her face in control.

Yukina crossed her light-green-sleeved arms. "I got an email. From Ariko." She licked her lips, trying to hide her delight. "You'll never believe it, Minato. Ariko is in Japan."

All of the implications were there and forcing Minato to knit her brows before she even realized it. Ariko, Yukina's best friend? Ariko was supposed to be in Peaceland, which was in Europe, half a world away. Did his parents know he was in Japan? How long until his mother started calling old Nadesico crew and screaming at them until she found her child, like she did when Ruri ran away? Did Ariko run away? Why was he in Japan? How did he get there and who was he staying with? Someone with an internet connection, because otherwise he wouldn't have been able to send Yukina a message. Wait, what did this message say?

"Let me read his email, Yukina. He might have meant he was coming to Japan this weekend." Minato had already started to try to enter Yukina's room before Yukina stretched out her arms and blocked the way in.

"No, Minato, I read it carefully. A few times. He's in Japan _now_. He's staying at Uribatake-san's and Uribatake-san will be bringing him into the office tomorrow morning. That's what he said."

"Yukina, why won't you let me see your computer?" Minato was suddenly afraid. It did not matter to her that Yukina was actually just the sister of the man she was in love with before he was killed, she still felt like she was to be the mother Yukina never had, just as Tsukumo had been the father Yukina never got to see. It had nothing to do with obligations; they had already had that argument. It had everything to do Yukina's well-being. Minato loved Yukina: like a friend, like a sister, and like a daughter. But to see that Yukina was hiding something hurt her deeply and frightened her. What could possibly be in the message that Yukina didn't want Minato to see?

Yukina blushed and let her arms slide down the doorframe. She bit her lip and glanced at Minato's off-white slippers before looking up into Minato face again, her eyes worried but her mouth set firm and defiant. "It's personal, Minato."

Minato wanted to scream. What? What was personal? Ariko was two years her junior and Minato knew that Yukina and Ariko were nothing more than friends. Flirtatious friends, but they were both in that confusing time when boys stopped being completely icky and girls stopped having cooties. But Yukina was still thirteen, Minato remembered, and almost fourteen. Which meant that Ariko was almost twelve. Minato had to remember that, when she was fourteen, Minato was on her fourth boyfriend. Minato had to remember that, at twelve, Minato had her first boyfriend. She had matured early of course, but it wasn't as if Ariko, or even Yukina, for that matter, though that was a bit sketchier, was irresponsible or untrustworthy. Minato had to remember that Ariko had an innocent little crush on Yukina and that Yukina felt the same for the Peaceland prince.

She had to remember it, but she didn't have to like it. "Fine. But I'm going to go call Uribatake-san and ask him why Ariko's in Japan, or even if Ariko is in Japan."

That answer seemed to satisfy Yukina enough to bring that infectious smile back. 'Damn her,' Minato thought as she turned and walked into the kitchen, the biggest space that she'd be able to talk on the phone and not feel guilty about swearing. The kitchen was often one of the dirtiest rooms in the house, and if it was one thing that Minato believed, it was that dirty words belonged in dirty places.

Yukina practically bounced as she followed her. "Oh, thank you, Minato! Ariko hadn't said why he was here, just that he was here. Oh, can you ask him if he can come over and spend the night this weekend?"

"Yukina!" Minato cried as she pulled the phone off the hook on the wall and dialed Uribatake's number. As they worked together, rather closely, it had only made sense for the two of them to be in close touch. "He may have to go home tomorrow, did you consider that? And besides, aren't you having Ayame in this weekend?"

"That was the _point_, Minato. Ariko hasn't met Ayame, and I want my best friends to meet. Is that so wrong?"

_Damn_ her! Luckily, the phone picked up and Minato heard the gruff "Moshi-moshi" she had learned was Uribatake's understanding of a firm greeting over the phone. She had tried to tell him otherwise, but Uribatake refused to say whose house it was or who was speaking unless asked. Minato feared for people trying to make sense of what happened when they dialed the wrong number.

"Seiya, it's Minato."

"Christ, woman, what took you so long to call?"

Was everyone convinced tonight was a good night to confuse the hell out of her? "Huh?"

"Ariko must have sent that email an hour ago."

"Wait, so he is there?"

"You bet. Got in this afternoon. We've been working all day on his concepts, but this kid has some real ideas to be put to use. He'll be bringing them up to Yamada and Kazamo and Subaru in the morning."

"Ideas for what?"

"The frame, Minato. I know it's late, but..."

The frame. They'd been working on it since before Minato was hired by the former Nadesico crew members. It was beyond important. It was supposed to revolutionize robot battles, swinging it to the Jumpers' favor. It was supposed to be the symbol of the power Jumpers now had, but was supposed to be used to preserve peace in the system. A powerful weapon that could easily fall into the wrong hands, Minato had always felt, but never voiced. And they were still trying to work out the kinks. Suddenly, it all made sense. Ariko's mother had no clue where Ariko was, but Ariko's father probably set the whole trip up himself. Ariko, who had been something of a nicer, kinder, and more innocent and young Uribatake, with his love of machines and the power they wielded, but not the destruction they could cause. A boy after Seiya's own heart. Ariko probably would have ideas for the frame, ideas that may just work.

"... And that's when I told Ariko to just email Yukina. I knew I'd either see you in the morning or you'd call me after Yukina read it, but I didn't want to risk waking you up anyhow."

Minato could understand it, but somehow, at the same time, she couldn't. How did Ariko come to Japan? Jump shuttles? Did they even have them in Peaceland anymore, with Ariko's mother's disposition to them?

God, Ariko's mother. "Seiya, do Ariko's parents know where he is?"

Minato didn't get to hear his immediate response, as Yukina began yanking on her arm. She nearly toppled her with her bouncing. "Minato, Minato, you have to ask Uribatake-san if Ariko can come over this weekend! I want him to meet Ayame, and I haven't seen him in so long!"

Minato glared at her adoptive daughter and was about to tell her that she had seen Ariko just last week when Uribatake's laughter brought her attention to the other end of the phone. "Well," the mechanic said, the smile apparent in his voice, "Ariko was just going to go back home tomorrow afternoon, but if I can wing it and run it through Ariko's father, I'm sure he can stay for the rest of the week and see Yukina."

"So King Notsumote knows that Ariko is in Japan?"

"Knows, hell. Good old King Fred put him on the damn Jump shuttle this morning!"

Minato frowned. Yukina was starting school again next week, but that meant little in regards to Ariko's own schedule. Ariko, Minato knew, had private tutors, and may have been only able to get a day away with his father's permission. Minato knew Ariko didn't have his mother's permission to be anywhere but home. "But surely Ariko has a schedule for the rest of the week. Besides, Yukina," she turned to the auburn haired daughter who had resigned herself to pouting in one of the kitchen chairs, "you just saw Ariko last week at -" She stopped. Yukina had seen Ariko last week, that was no lie. But she had last seen him at Yurika's funeral.

"Minato." Uribatake's voice made Minato aware again that she was on the phone. "Since the Nadesico landed, these kids have seen each other -maybe- three times. At the Peace Ball, at Megumi and Rumiko's wedding, and at Yurika's funeral. We have to remember that they're still kids, and want to have time together. Don't you think they should have time when they aren't stuffed into nice clothing and needing to be polite? Don't you think they should have time to just be kids?"

How had this man lost custody of his son? Uribatake, suddenly, seemed the perfect father. He was encouraging, persuasive, and _infuriatingly right._ Minato sighed, then covered her forehead with a hand. "Okay," she conceded, regretting every word and what every word meant. "If you can arrange it, Ariko can come over to our house this weekend."

Minato barely had time to brace herself before Yukina leapt at her, her thin arms wrapping around her waist. "Oh thank you, thank you, _thank you,_ Minato! Oh my God of Spirit, there's so much to get ready for! I've gotta tell Ayame that Ariko will be over." Yukina bolted out of the kitchen before Minato could remind her that it may not be happening.

Minato felt her teeth clench involuntarily. "Do you realize what you've done?" she growled into the phone. There was no way Yukina would work on her studies now, and with school rapidly approaching, Yukina wouldn't be able to get the head start she needed.

"Given a teenage girl something to look forward to and hope for?"

Minato gritted her teeth and tried to get a hold of her temper. She didn't have much of one, but as Goat had always told her, she could be rather grouchy early in the morning or when someone rubbed her the wrong way, so to speak. Uribatake, for all he was worth, was very quickly becoming an expert on rubbing Minato the wrong way. He really was the perfect father, infuriatingly right to the bone. But it didn't mean she had to like it. Besides, this was no time to be allowing the two of them to indulge in their childhood romance that Minato was sure would drive them apart someday. Oh, she was quite aware of how Ariko liked Yukina and how Yukina returned the feelings, but she was experienced enough to know that it would only last so long. But when Yukina had studies, Ariko lived so far away, and Minato hadn't felt truly safe even in her own home since Mythos was killed, let alone when Yurika was killed, Minato had to stand firm on her position with Yukina and Ariko. No, they could only see each other when they were called to the same place for a ceremony or a fully chaperoned party. And here was Uribatake, allowing the two of them to possibly endanger each other, rack the nerves of parents, and drastically change schedules without even thinking of the consequences... and being _right_ on top of all of that? "Damn you!" she snarled, feeling her upper lip rise, as if somehow threatening the man on the other line with her perfectly straight, white teeth.

A snort. "You're not the first woman to say that to me." His voice was hollow, cynical, and somewhat venomous; all without losing the humor he had intended. The full impact of the words had not hit Minato until she heard the click of his end being disconnected and the tone indicating that the connection was dead.

She slowly pulled her own phone away from her ear and turned it off, staring at it. For weeks now, she had been offhandedly wondering why Uribatake's marriage had failed, why he had to get a divorce. He may have been a self-proclaimed womanizer and playboy, but anyone who was anyone, or even just one of the two biggest gossips on the ship, knew that even Akatsuki had gotten more play than him. As it was, Minato was fairly certain that Uribatake and Hikaru had yet to have sex, especially since Minato was sure Hikaru was a virgin. And Uribatake had had a son. Why did Uribatake never see him? He was wonderful with children; Ruri, Ariko, Yukina, and even Omoikane had all considered him an honorary father, or at least an honorary uncle that could easily be a father. It had never all made sense, until now. Now, Minato knew why Uribatake had lost his family after returning home.

Uribatake was an honorable man, and had lost his wife and child because he was, for all intents and purposes, right.

---

Gai squeezed his eyes shut tight, then let them open again. No, his vision was still blurry with exhaustion. He rubbed one eye and sighed. His watch read that it was only early afternoon; why was he so tired? It was a stupid question. He knew why he was tired. The past few days of enduring Hikaru and Itsuki screaming at each other, and the two of them pulling at him. He was supposed to support Itsuki, he knew. Itsuki was his sister, for Aer's sake. But Hikaru had some good points as well. Itsuki was, in fact, very spoiled and used to getting her own way. That was true enough and Gai couldn't figure out how to argue with that. And then, earlier this week, he had to schedule Ariko's trip to Japan with Ariko, the King of Peaceland, and Uribatake. Ariko had called him to discuss robot design ideas and Gai decided that he would rather discuss them in person. That was a decision he was beginning to regret, as this morning first Itsuki, then Minato, cried out in surprise to the schedule he had secretly edited and then screamed at him for leaving them out of the know. Gai frankly just thought it would be a nice surprise, but apparently the girls needed fifteen years' notice. He sighed again and glanced at his watch. Girls were confusing. Thank the Goddess of Air he was gay. He didn't know how people like Uribatake and Akito and Jun could stand even attempting to understand women. They made no sense and then, right when you thought you had everything figured out, they took a complete turn-around and were now both opposite and the same, putting the man in the situation back at square one. He glanced at his watch again. And now he was sitting in a rather large room, yes, but a room alone with three of these strange creatures, two of which were mad at him for some reason he just didn't get. Where the hell were Uribatake and Ariko?

"Just where in the hell are those two?" Gai had to blink as he realized that Itsuki, in her heavily accented voice that screamed of high birth and education, had repeated the exact same thing he was thinking. Itsuki stopped her pacing and crossed her arms across her black top, setting her mouth into a firm line and narrowing her dark, yet angry eyes. Gai knew better than to attempt to speak with her on a casual level. With the tension at home, the not-so-pleasant surprise this morning, and Gai's suspicion that she hadn't had sex in a while based on the coppery smell he seemed to catch but no one else noticed, Gai was certain that she was just a bomb ready to explode. Gai just didn't want to have to be the guy to throw himself onto the grenade.

"Don't know, Itsuki. Want me to go downstairs, get us maybe some coffee or donuts from the break room? Possibly something a little harder?" Ryoko sat on a large toolbox staring at the ceiling. She wasn't quite as unhappy with Gai when he made the announcement that he had planned Ariko's trip to Japan, but that was mostly because she didn't really care. Gai knew Ryoko had the same problem he did; he had Itsuki as a sister and was close to Hikaru, while Ryoko was romantically involved with Itsuki but knew Hikaru since she was little. In some ways, Ryoko's problem was even worse. Ryoko had to sleep with Itsuki; she also had to understand Hikaru's situation. Somehow, whatever had happened between Gai's sister and Ryoko's redheaded best friend was causing even more tension than trying to walk around on eggshells around the mildly unstable Jun.

"Ryoko, you know you and I are the only ones legal for such things here. Besides, Itsuki has a valid point. Uribatake is really pushing it with his irresponsibility. He and Ariko should have been here this morning." Minato was also upset with Gai earlier when he said that he had planned this whole meeting. But since she had spoken to Uribatake the night before, she had a bit more of a clue on the situation. That didn't mean she wasn't wholly against the idea anyway. Gai only hoped he could change their minds with Uribatake and Ariko's work on the prototype. Gai really didn't know what to expect from Ariko. He had just received a message from Ariko saying that he had a few ideas he wanted to send to Gai. Knowing that Ariko showed Uribatake's talent for machines, Gai set up Ariko's trip and stay in Japan with Ariko's father and Uribatake. Gai regretted running it through Itsuki and Minato, but that was the past and he really, really wished they'd get over it and fast.

"Bullshit, Minato. I've been 'legal for such things' for a year as of Sunday," Itsuki snapped, curling her upper lip at her and Gai's secretary. But before the tense women could battle it out, the doors to the large hangar they used for testing and development opened, showing the tall, older mechanic and the shorter, younger, and finely-featured prince.

"Well, it's about friggin' time," grumbled Ryoko loudly, sliding off the toolbox and cracking her knuckles.

"I'm sorry, Subaru-san," Ariko said with a sheepish grin. "We were fine-tuning the ideas I had and showed Uribatake-san yesterday, so we could properly present them to all of you." It must have been some kind of childhood magic, but Gai felt the tension slowly begin to dissipate as the three girls slowly let small smiles mar their perfectly chiseled frowns and glares.

"Yeah, and let me tell you, the kid's got some great ideas, and he considered some things we didn't." Uribatake gestured to the rolled up blueprints under his arm, then lifted his other hand, which held his large-handled laptop. "I also spent last night and this morning working on 3D renders."

_Now_ they were getting somewhere. "All right, let's see 'em." Gai couldn't resist. The only reason he went to all the trouble of setting this up was because he was hungry to see and hear what Ariko had to say and show. The boy was becoming a mechanical prodigy by being under the careful eye of a skilled genius such as Uribatake. To hear that Uribatake took the liberty of fine-tuning Ariko's ideas and adapting them for their design made Gai think he could die happy after seeing the plans. Gekiganger was in his blood, though he was an Earthling and not a Jovian; a slight dislike for the anime did not make him dislike robots. He still loved them dearly, and to see two brilliant minds connect together to come up with a design made him giddy.

Uribatake nodded, then sent Ariko off to get a projector from his office off the hangar. As the prince was collecting the equipment, Uribatake unrolled one of the blueprints in his possession. The design was all too familiar to Gai; he must have seen it a million times now. "This, as you are all well aware, is our most recent variation of our original plans. Our missile loaders and launchers hang from the underside of the arms. We've noticed that this makes it bulky and difficult to maneuver, plus that the frame would have limited mobility as it would have to be based on either the aerial frame or the Zero-G frame. We decided to work with the aerial frame design for testing convenience, but Zero-G is what we're trying to reach, right?" Ariko appeared at Uribatake's side and hooked Uribatake's laptop up to the projector. "Ariko here has made our lives a bit easier with some ideas of his own, though I had to use more of our design than his."

Ariko nodded as he powered up the laptop. "My idea was to have the missiles be filled and shot from the hands directly, as this would make it the most natural for Jumpers. Jumpers' magic _does_ originate from the nanocontroller on the hand, right?"

Gai smiled and nodded. The boy was well-versed in how Jumpers worked. But it was to be expected with a sister that was one and a best friend who had been one for even longer. Ariko still seemed to stare at him for confirmation, as though his nod wasn't enough for the silver-haired boy. Gai sighed and held up his right hand, splaying his fingers as he willed the slightest bit of power into the padded appendages. He and Ariko watched with slight interest as small bolts of lightning connected each finger along their lengths, like electrically-charged webbing. Gai then clenched a fist and let the bolts sing back into his skin, awakening his nerves as they traveled his body, joining back with it. His vision became brighter, clearer. It was as if someone had given him a shot of espresso through his veins, and there was no way he'd ever be able to sleep again. He had to remember that trick; he often found himself tired and unable to concentrate. If he could do that to rejuvenate himself, who knew what he could do, and for how long.

Ariko nodded as well, finally, convinced that he was right once and for all. "So, I took that into account and designed a hand-missile system that would allow for maximum correlation between usual magic-using and magic-using inside the Aesti. But then I remembered that pilots like Subaru-san use primarily their fists, and pilots like Maki-san use primarily the weaponry the Aesti is armed with at deployment. This arm configuration makes the hands useless for anything but magic-missiles. So I figured I could make these capable of being easily removed or jettisoned while the regular arms are just tucked away inside the arm."

"But an Aestivalis isn't built like that," Minato interjected, then glanced to Gai. "Right?"

"Right. The arms and other parts can be jettisoned, but they all have their own electrical devices inside to make them work, all of their own interconnected nanocontrolled panels. That's the only way Aestivalis parts can so closely match the movements of the people inside. There isn't room to store parts inside other parts."

"That's what I told him, but he had an interesting idea that we didn't even discuss or think of: removability," Uribatake said, holding up a finger. "It would be the best way to make a pair of missile factories, one for each arm, for one set of frames and then to make them capable of snapping on and off the different frames as they are used. This could save us money and solve the maneuverability problem if it is too much of a problem for the Jumper using the frame. They can just jettison the factories and launchers off without having to risk losing the whole arm."

Ryoko narrowed her eyes at the airborne display of the connectors used to hook the Mugendai-style missile launchers to the Aestivalis. "Hm. Piloting-wise, this would be really nice, you know?" She turned to her girlfriend and Gai. "I mean, there are situations for mages like me, or even Hikaru, where we absolutely cannot use magic. Especially me, now that I think of it. I can't do it in space, and on Earth or any other planet, it's generally considered a bad idea, you know?"

Itsuki nodded quickly, smiling. She reached over and ruffled Ariko's hair. "Good job, little guy. Uribatake will make a mechanic of you yet."

Ariko beamed and blushed, trying to hide his pride and failing miserably. "Maybe I should tell you about the CCs then."

Gai, Minato, Ryoko, and Itsuki froze, and Gai knew they were all thinking the same thing: "Oh, _shit._" They had been so focused on including the use of magic into the Jumper frames that they hadn't even recalled to include what even made Jumpers Jumpers. The only reason those with nanocontrollers were called Jumpers was because of their ability to Teleport, travel through time, Leap, or as they liked to call it on Earth, Boson Jump. There may have been a number of reasons why they hadn't addressed it yet, from Nergal having majority on Boson research to the assumption that the use of magic would allow free Jumping in battle. The point of the matter was, it hadn't crossed any of their minds, while it was in this young boy's development ideas.

Ariko looked to Uribatake, and the older man nodded, giving the go-ahead as he himself beamed a little with pride, not even bothering to hide his grin. Ariko licked his lips as he fiddled with the laptop and the airborne projection showed a standard aerial Aestivalis frame. Then a small blinking arrow appeared, pointing at the head. "My first idea was to put them inside the head of an Aesti cockpit. I wanted them to be available even if all of the parts of the Aestivalis was jettisoned, destroyed, or if the pod was in transit to another frame, abandoning another."

"But the head is where the guidance and communication computers are stored," Gai interrupted, stroking his chin.

"Right. Once I realized that," Ariko typed something into the computer, and the airborne projection's arrows moved to the back of the Aestivalis, "I thought about storing them near the thrusters of the frame. But then I decided against that since I had no clue as to what kind of temperatures would cause CCs to melt, you know?"

Itsuki nodded. "But I'm fairly certain CCs are resilient against such things."

"Yes, well... I didn't want to risk it."

Minato somehow sighed and growled at the same time. "Couldn't you just stick them around the outside? That would be safe and would let the pilots use them, wouldn't it?"

Ryoko sucked air in through her clenched teeth, making a whistling sound. She shook her head. "Do you realize what that would do to mobility inside of an atmosphere? Having the smooth surfaces of the Aestivalis frame suddenly encrusted with CCs? It would slow down tremendously from friction. You might as well be trying to fly in a Heavy Artillery frame." Minato bit her bottom lip, but said nothing.

Ariko nodded slowly. "Yeah, I didn't even consider that for that reason; I know pilots like Subaru-san, Amano-san, Tenkawa-san and Yamada-san need to be fast, no matter what." He cleared his throat. "What I finally decided on was to store the CCs with the emergency Solar Sail, which is available for use whether or not the cockpit pod is in a frame or not. Since this would be another choice for transportation, I thought it was a good idea, and allow them to be deployed in almost the same way."

Gai nodded slowly, narrowing his eyes and stroking his chin as he watched the projected images show how the CCs could be dispersed from the back of the Aestivalis. It was perfect. It worked very well with just about any frame. Better, in fact, since Solar Sails were only available as emergency transport in space. Boson Jumping, theoretically, would be possible anywhere with a Jump field. It was several months of testing and developing blown away, a final decision made in what seemed less than an hour. Gai's eyes widened as he realized Ariko's developments had saved Mugendai thousands, nay, hundreds of thousands of dollars. He stared incredulously at the silver-haired child. "Ariko," he began slowly, his tongue feeling swollen and his throat feeling like it was full of cotton, "you're a genius."

"Isn't he though?" Uribatake chirped gleefully, wrapping an arm around Ariko's blue-clad shoulders. "I said the same thing when he showed me his ideas last night."

"You bet he is!" Gai glanced at Itsuki and her eyes looked hungrily at the projection. "How much do you want for the plans?"

Gai hadn't thought about that. Legally, they couldn't take the ideas without Ariko's written permission, and probably the permission of Ariko's father as well. Ariko shook his head. "You're free to take them. I don't even want credit. Mother wouldn't be pleased if she found out that _this_ was what I was daydreaming about during writing tutoring last week. Besides, just to see that you guys are interested in my concepts and plans are enough." He grinned toothily, excitement lighting his blue eyes. Gai could understand the sentiment. Whether or not his name was on the final plans, Ariko's ideas were going to be used to build robots. Gai smiled softly to himself. Wasn't he the same way before he was recruited on the Nadesico? He fleshed out and planned out the frame-covering modules, which would have made it possible to use the power of the Heavy Artillery frame with the speed and agility of the aerial. Would have, if he had had more time to work on them before he had to go to the Nadesico and send some off to Nergal and the military before they were complete. No one would consider using them now. But it gave Gai a sense of pride to see his ideas in motion, as if it proved his existence.

He reached over and ruffled Ariko's hair, smiling at the boy with a new sense of understanding. Ariko wasn't Uribatake in-the-making. Ariko, for all intents and purposes, was like Gai was when Gai was just a bit younger. Ariko ran his fingers through his metallically-shiny tresses, cocking his head to the side a bit as he narrowed his eyes, trying to read Gai's smile. Gai shook his head. He didn't expect Ariko to get it. Maybe he would once he was older and had a few little Arikos of his own running around and improving microwaves in ways that Ariko himself never thought of.

Out of the corner of his eye, Gai saw Minato start, cock her head to the side, and narrow her caramel eyes before calling out, "...Meg? Rumiko?"

As his secretary spoke the names of Ninlan's own royalty, Gai growled softly under his breath before turning. Itsuki, Ryoko, and even Uribatake and Ariko turned or glanced past people to see the empress, dressed still in her ritual black but with her purple hair up in pigtails, and the emperor, his white tank-top and slacks making his pale skin seem more pink than usual, but his long hair black as ever. The latter pushed a finger along his up-turned nose to push up his black framed glasses, making his scowl seem just that much more self-important.

What the hell were they doing there? Megumi, Gai could understand, even forgive a thousand times over: Minato and Megumi were very good friends. Gai couldn't possibly blame Megumi for wanting to spend time with her best friend while she was on Earth, especially since Megumi hadn't had the chance to spend time with Yurika before she was...

But Rumiko? No matter what he may have agreed to do for Akito's sake, Gai could not forgive Rumiko for forcing his way into Gai's home last week. Yamada Manor, no matter how much he gladly shared it with his friends, no matter how much he said it was his and Itsuki's house, was _his_ house. He always said Gai Daigohji was the name of his soul, but Yamada Jiro would always be the name of his body, his life, and his entire physical manifestation in this world. Yamada Manor bared his name and the name of his family; generations upon generations had built them up in society so that they could have such a grand-scale home. No matter how tackily it was decorated, no matter how much it cost him to maintain, Yamada Manor gave him pride to come home to. He would share it with his friends, the former crew of the Nadesico, because he liked them and trusted them to take care of his home during their stay. That was the only reason Akito, Ryoko, Izumi, Hikaru, Jun, and even Yurika and Ruri were allowed to stay.

Rumiko was something entirely different. Gai clenched his jaw and curled his lip as the two imperial figures entered the hangar, baring his straight rows of white teeth in retaliation. Rumiko had forced his way into Gai's house, using his political power as Emperor of Ninlan and his spiritual power as the head priest of the Pentakami church, Gai's church, to make Gai let him into Gai's home. Gai had initially been upset about this because he believed that Rumiko was looking for evidence against Akito, evidence that would have suggested that Akito would have killed Yurika. Gai knew Akito better than just about anyone, from Akito's favorite food, green beans, to the fact that tonguing Akito's belly button made him try to deliciously squirm away. He knew that, no matter how rocky Akito's and Yurika's relationship was, Akito would have never killed Yurika. But then Rumiko had the balls to force his way into Gai's house? Gai couldn't stand for it. He simply couldn't. And to make matters worse, here was the son-of-a-bitch, having done Aer-knows-what to get into the building and to this particular floor. Gai felt like his personal life was being repeatedly violated by Rumiko, and Gai's only instinct against this was to retaliate.

Megumi tilted her head as they reached Gai and the others, staring at the projection that was still slowly spinning and running through many different lines of specifications. She twirled one braid around a finger. "Wow. That's really something. That looks a lot different from regular Aestivalises. Is this a new design?" she asked Minato specifically. Gai had to hand it to the younger girl; talking to just Minato was a good idea. Gai would have snapped at her just for being married to the man before him that he wanted to gleefully gut and splatter all over the walls, but Gai couldn't help but notice that Itsuki's mouth was set in a firm line, her fists clenched at her side. Gai had only seen her like that, recently, when speaking to Hikaru before they began to yell and scream at each other again. Gai wasn't stupid; whatever had happened between his sister and the redhead was somehow caused by, or related to, the imperial couple before them.

Minato slowly nodded, apparently also taking notice of the sudden tension in the air. "Yes, sort of. These were ideas Ariko had and was showing us."

Megumi's head swiveled to the silver-haired prince, her blue eyes widening. "No kidding? You came up with these all on your own, Ariko?"

Ariko bit his lip and blushed, glancing at the floor. "Well, Uribatake-san helped a little."

A snort. Rumiko too was watching the projection. "'Capable of Jumping and using magic'? Very interesting, Little Prince. I think Ninlan would be very, very interested in acquiring some of these when they are completed." Gai growled under his breath as Rumiko turned to Ariko and gave him the grim smirk Rumiko called a smile. How dare he come in here? How dare he? Just what the hell did he want anyway? Gai took a breath to ask him, but was interrupted.

"Just what the hell are you doing here, Rumiko?" hissed Itsuki, her arms coming up to cross underneath her breasts.

Gai felt a sudden, yet soft wind brush through his loose, shaggy hair. The wind itself was familiar, having felt it various times in the strangely unair-conditioned parlor that summer, but the emotion and sentiment in it was foreign, different, and not comforting in the least bit. One look at Rumiko explained it all. His shoulders pushed back sharply and his eyes mysteriously darker than his usual amber hue, the wind that had seemed so slight to Gai was whipping around Rumiko's dark hair, splaying the tendrils around his head and face as if he was some sort of male, modern Medusa. It pulled at the Ninlandish white robes, flapping them and wrinkling them beyond hope of recovery. In all of this, Rumiko held his eyebrows together and his mouth in a firm line as he glared at the violet-haired violinist from behind dark frames.

It didn't take long for Gai to recognize that wind and those eyes. It wasn't surprising, really, to realize that Hikaru had let Rumiko tap into her magic when last they met. As a Copy mage, Rumiko needed to magic of Elemental mages to be of any real use. Gai knew he should have been upset; it was _Rumiko_, after all. But he couldn't bring himself to. He relaxed his expression a bit. Rumiko needed to have Hikaru's extremely potent, nearly uncontrollable breezes and gusts handy. This was not a time of war, neither political nor holy, but this was a time when no one, it seemed, was safe in their own homes. Rumiko wanted to protect himself and his wife.

Aer. Gai raised a hand to cover his mouth as he widened his gray-brown eyes. That was all that it came down to, wasn't it? Rumiko just wanted to protect his family. That was what he and Megumi were now, after all. Rumiko wasn't just thinking about justice and finding the killers; he wanted to be able to sleep in his own bed, with his wife, and feel safe. Rumiko, stubborn and determined as he was, would do anything for that. Look at the case from any angle, even ones that were as ridiculous as Akito, just because it _might be true._ Forcing someone to open up their home for his eyes. Coming to that person's workplace for... what reason?

Gai came back to the real world as Rumiko seemably answered his question, as the Hikaru in his eyes faded away and he crossed his arms. "To speak with you, Kazamo-san."

Itsuki flipped a strand of violet hair behind her shoulder as she closed her dark eyes and stuck her nose in the air rather priggishly. Gai had never noticed before just how alike Itsuki and Rumiko really were. "There isn't anything to talk about, Rumiko."

"Ah. I disagree. Were you or were you not approached by Amano Hikaru on the subject of a Jump signature found to be yours by my wife in Yamada Manor library?"

Gai's jaw dropped. Against the wall, Gai noticed absently that Ryoko mirrored his expression. Was _that_ what Hikaru and Itsuki's fight was all about? Itsuki Jumped somewhere? Wait, Itsuki _Jumped_ somewhere? Of course, she was capable, but she had never taken the opportunity to Jump anywhere, unless she was on a Jump shuttle going somewhere. Did Hikaru get mad at Itsuki for Jumping somewhere? Or did Hikaru ask her about it and Itsuki get all defensive? Although one part of that particular mystery became clearer, it just made everything else, especially what had happened and who was really in the right here, much more blurry. Gai glanced at his sister's girlfriend and noticed she too was staring at him. They had been pulled from both sides about this, and what happened here may or may not dictate what sides they will take, if they will take sides at all. Gai's eyes flicked to Itsuki, who now had more than a few violet strands out of place. Itsuki had snapped her head around to glare at Rumiko. Oh yes. Whatever had happened nearly a week ago had certainly fueled Itsuki and Hikaru's newfound hate for each other.

Minato cleared her throat, though the interruption did nothing to stop Rumiko and Itsuki from glaring at each other. "Well, I could certainly use a drink after all of that, wouldn't you, Uribatake-san?"

Uribatake nodded quickly, his eyes flicking quickly from Rumiko's self-righteous smirk to Itsuki's damning death-glare. He wrapped an arm around Ariko's shoulders, pulling him with him as he and Minato none-too-stealthily left the hangar and experimentation floor. Gai watched their retreating backs enviously. How he wished he could get out of here without risking the wrath of either his sister, his head priest, or even of Rumiko's wife, who seemed to be the only one not glaring at someone or glancing from face to face, confused.

Itsuki sniffed, finally, breaking their silence. "Yes. What does it matter to you?"

"She requested that she, rather than I, be the one to ask you about it."

Itsuki's mouth twitched and she closed her eyes, as if trying to ignore Rumiko. "Well, I didn't tell her anything, if you must know."

"I know. She contacted me and said that I was to ask you about it myself."

"So here you are."

"So to speak, yes."

There was a deadly silence after Rumiko's words as Rumiko and Itsuki continued to stare each other down. What were the two of them thinking, Gai wondered. Rumiko wanted an answer out of Itsuki, that was certain, but what did Rumiko plan to do with the information Itsuki gave him? Where could Itsuki have Jumped that caused this much of an uproar? Why hadn't Gai heard of this until now? On the other hand, Itsuki was adamant about not telling. What had she done? For the first time, Gai was looking at his sister and felt excess amounts of fear. Fear for his sister's freedom and life, but also fear for Ryoko and what Itsuki may have done, where Itsuki may have gone. Was this a one time thing, or had she been Jumping back and forth between his house and Aer-knew-where? Where was she going? Why had she felt it necessary to not tell him?

"Itsuki." A voice that was not his own rang out, ringing like bells. Megumi slowly turned her head from the door that Minato, Ariko, and Uribatake had exited from to face Itsuki. "You need to tell us where you went."

"Oh, do I?" Gai didn't have to see Itsuki to know what she was doing. Sucking her lower lip into her mouth and widening her eyes as she turned to Megumi, raising one violet eyebrow as she steadied her footing. Gai had seen this stance in her as Itsuki had argued with her parents, particularly when she was forced to go to pilot's school to join him, forced to leave music school. She told her parents that spending time with him wasn't necessary, as she wasn't going to marry him anyway. She was a lesbian, after all. The Kazamos decreed that she would indeed marry him, whether she liked it or not. It was then that she uttered the same phrase, stood the same way with her arms crossed, as she went from glaring to daring with her eyes.

"Kazamo-san, please consider the precarious situation you have found yourself in. In our attempts to find out whether or not there was evidence against Tenkawa-san in his house, we stumbled upon a Teleport site. Your Teleport site, upon the discovery of which Amano-san informed us that none of the residents of Yamada Manor Teleport anywhere, unless they are using a shuttle." As Rumiko spoke, Itsuki's gaze softened, and slowly dropped to the metallic floor and finally, to her black shoes. "You have Teleported from Yamada Manor's library to somewhere else, and your friends and roommates are unaware of where this was. In our recent times, can you truly blame us for being just a bit suspicious, Kazamo-san?"

Ryoko took a step toward her girlfriend, but couldn't seem to reach her. Instead, Megumi reached out a hand to stroke the exposed skin on her lower arm. "Itsuki, you need to tell us where you went." It was the exact same words as before, but now, they were not met with retaliation and rebellion.

Gai knew he should be upset. Itsuki was now their chief suspect. He knew Itsuki had no reason to kill Yurika. But right now, he just begged with her, silently, to cooperate. This must have been what Akito meant. Do the best you can to cooperate and they won't think of you another second. It didn't really hit him until it was now his sister in the hot seat, rather than his boyfriend.

"...Kazamo Manor." The answer was so quiet, Gai wasn't sure he heard the words fall out of his sister's mouth, wasn't certain of the existence of the whispered words in that cultured, deep voice. Itsuki looked up and met Megumi's eyes, but did not spare one glance at Rumiko. "I went to Kazamo Manor. I went to visit my parents." She swallowed. "I miss them, sometimes. I... I feel responsible for their deaths. Somehow, I feel they would be alive today if I wasn't so spoiled, or if I didn't exist at all. I... I didn't want to just go and walk over there, because someone might see me, or someone might ask me where I went. I wanted to go alone, and I didn't want them to notice I was gone. Jumping seemed like the only way to do that." Itsuki licked her lips, but said nothing more. Both she and Megumi glanced back at Rumiko, who had closed his eyes and kept his arms crossed.

Finally, after a few long, pregnantly silent moments, Rumiko sighed. "Of course. I apologize for causing you so much grief and discomfort, Kazamo-san." Rumiko turned on a heel and walked out of the hangar and into the elevator, leaving nothing but his wife, Itsuki near tears, and a slight scent of water and trees.

Megumi sighed herself and backed up a step from Itsuki. Without Megumi's hand on her arm, Itsuki gasped, her hands leaping to her face as she began to sob. Ryoko swooped in and wrapped her arms around Itsuki from behind. The violet-haired violinist twisted quickly and burying her face in Ryoko's shoulder. The tomboy glared at Megumi. "You... You guys didn't mean all of that, did you?"

Megumi swallowed visibly and bit her lip. "I'd be lying if I said we didn't. I'm sorry, Ryoko. I'm sorry it's come to this, that we have to distrust our friends, the very people we trusted our lives with during the war." She watched Itsuki's back hitch before turning and running after her husband.

Ryoko growled under her breath. "Who the hell does she think she is?"

Gai glanced at his sister and her girlfriend, both of them falling apart in very different, but very real ways. Then he glanced at the elevator door as it slowly closed, hiding Megumi, who had been holding herself inside the compartment, from view. "She's trying to help. She's trying to make sure our peace stays for longer than a few months. She thinks that her actions are justified."

Ryoko's glare shot to Gai. "And so do you."

Gai shrugged. He honestly had no idea what to think anymore.

---

Akito had to get up very early every morning. He didn't mind, he really didn't. He honestly didn't care what time he had to get up, whether or not he had work. He just did. He knew it bothered Gai that Akito got up so early, but Akito reminded him that he got up early to make breakfast, an argument to which Gai had to just let his mouth hang open. Whether or not Akito was on good terms with him, Akito knew Gai could not deny that Akito was a damn good cook.

So, like every other morning, whether or not Akito had to show up at Peaceful Days to make breakfast for other people, Akito's alarm clock went off at five o'clock that morning, just like any other morning, and he left his grumbling boyfriend to sleep a little longer as he went to take his shower. This early in the morning, Akito surrendered his mind to the routine, something he could have done in his sleep and nearly did so. Forty-five minutes later, he emerged from his own personal bathroom, his laundry rolled up and under his arm as he padded quietly out of his and Gai's bedroom.

While Akito was always the first one up, he was hardly the only one awake and milling about the house. On his trek down to the laundry room, Akito bumped into Mitsuki, the maid he knew to be better skilled with tending the plants, Michiyo, a maid armed with a broom, and Brigit herself, who Akito shared a smile with before eventually making it downstairs. In the small room just off the kitchen, Akito encountered Naoki, the large and burly lord of the laundry, to whom Akito handed off his own laundry, informing him that the master and mistress's laundry would be a little later than usual. Gai and Itsuki were not going into the office today. Naoki grinned at Akito and thanked him for the warning as Akito left, standing in the center of the kitchen and sighing.

It distressed Akito a bit when he learned that none of his other housemates were aware of the names of the young women and men that kept up Yamada Manor's maintenance. As it was, he could see the few young men that cleaned the pool, signifying that it was indeed a Thursday. But apparently the rest of them either thought themselves better than the fleet of house- and grounds-keepers, or they simply didn't know how to strike up a conversation with them. Of course, it didn't help that they were all late-sleepers if given the opportunity, and the domestic maintenance crew all went home at around eleven in the morning, but still, some other people were up at this hour, even if they weren't exactly awake.

He unhooked his apron from the back of the kitchen door just as that one person stumbled in from the library, looking a bit dazed and surprised to see Akito. Hikaru glanced at Akito as he pulled the apron over his head and tied it around his waist, then to the quickly brightening morning. She shook her head, her loosely plaited braid whipping back and forth. "Morning already, huh?"

Akito nodded, opening the refrigerator to check on his pickled cabbage, which he had set to chill overnight. It looked all right, and he pulled the rather large plastic container out of the fridge. "You been busy?"

"Sadly enough, yes. I came up with this really great game plan! Wanna hear?"

"Somehow I don't think I have a choice." Sensing Hikaru's pout, Akito sighed as he dug out his rice cooker. "Okay, but only if you put on the coffee pot and tea kettle. I have to get this rice cooking."

"Ah, we eating traditional today?"

"Yeah. Anyway, what plan did you come up with?"

"Oh, just that if I change some of my characters' gender and alter my drawing style a bit, I could go for the girl crowd."

"Really. And before you were going for..."

"Believe it or not? The guy crowd."

"Hikaru! That's your problem all along!"

"I know!"

It was always like this for them. Akito wasn't stupid enough to let Hikaru actually help in the preparation of the morning meal for seven, but Hikaru was almost always in the kitchen to talk to him about her activities while they slumbered. Akito often recruited her to fix their coffee or tea or pour whatever it was that the residents of Yamada Manor planned to drink with their meal. All the while, they would laugh and be friendly. Hikaru's presence in the kitchen while Akito made breakfast was one of the few times Akito and Hikaru got a chance to talk.

After the Lizard War, and even after Akito and Gai broke up, Akito distanced himself from the rest of his friends. To tell the truth, Akito wasn't really close to any of them then. Akito was simply with Gai, who was as close as family to Itsuki, who wanted Ryoko in her bed and heart badly, who came with her own pair of best friends. Jun... He had been tacked on just because of one morning's breakfast. But before the Nadesico crashed on Ninlan, Akito wasn't really close to any of them. Since then, though, he had built himself to be close to a small handful of those he loved most: Gai, Jun, Ryoko, Izumi, and now Hikaru.

These mornings in the kitchen were one of the few, perhaps only, times Akito and Hikaru were able to talk one-on-one. Hikaru was always with Izumi, or nowadays, Jun. Even if she wasn't attached to a person, she was always _with_ people. But in the morning, while Hikaru waited for the morning meal to be completed so she could eat before heading off to bed, Akito was the only one there. Akito was the only one awake.

So it was no surprise that Akito felt himself siding more and more with the redhead as he heard more and more about Hikaru's and Itsuki's confrontation, now a week ago. According to Hikaru, she had just gone in to do what Rumiko had asked her to. Something happened, Hikaru could never understand it, let alone describe it, but they went from being friends addressing a problem between them (an activity most of the residents of Yamada Manor could relate well with) to two people that could hardly be called friends anymore, both teetering on the edge of an all-out screaming match. Now, Itsuki would not listen to her attempts to apologize, mostly because Hikaru couldn't figure out what she was trying to apologize for, and the tension just kept rising between them.

Akito loved Gai, and he knew Gai loved his sister. He knew that Gai would automatically side with Itsuki, and had, for the most, blindly. After all, what else could have made him so testy lately? It couldn't be the occasional reversed sex they had; Gai had already agreed that he was okay with that. Gai knew Akito was taking Hikaru's side, and thus, had turned him into an enemy. Their own fighting, however, which had become as common place as Ryoko's and Itsuki's had on Ninlan, was being trumped by Hikaru's and Itsuki's, which was explosive, nerve-racking, and tension building. But just the night before, Akito was watching a movie based on a book he had to read in high school when Gai had come in and shut off the TV.

"What gives?" Akito had not raised his voice, but instead narrowed his eyes and furrowed his brow. He would not have gotten angry, could not have gotten angry. He wasn't too into the movie anyway, but had simply wanted something to do before bed. But Gai was one to go out of his way to start fights when he took the offensive. When he felt threatened, he defended with all of his might, but when he was truly upset, he either retreated from everyone or went out of his way to be heard. They were both so very different tactics, but Akito had learned over their time together that he retreated to form a battle plan and strategy. Gai, after all, was a fair public speaker, but needed time to collect his mental notes before he tried to destroy you verbally. He tried, always. But he was only fair because he barely ever succeeded.

"I think we need to talk." Akito hadn't been able to help but sigh. Every intimate moment they had nowadays was either a result of "needing to talk" or just the scheduled sex. Neither of them could seem to grab and keep hold of their relationship. Akito had wondered if they were still considered together, or if they were just friends with benefits that threw around the L-word.

"About?"

"Itsuki and Hikaru." It had been this trio of words that actually caught Akito's interest. He had thought that that was the reason why Gai was so uppity with him lately. He must have known that he and Hikaru talk in the morning, which firmly planted Akito's alliance with Hikaru, rather than his veritable sister-in-law.

Akito had raised an eyebrow. That subtle cue to go on was all that Gai had needed. Akito's boyfriend had then relayed the events of that morning, starting with Rumiko and Megumi entering the hangar at Mugendai Headquarters, to Itsuki's breakdown that told both Gai and Ryoko exactly what had happened with Hikaru and Itsuki. At the end of it, Gai apologized profusely, as he was known to do. He was sorry that he had made Akito look suspicious to Rumiko, who only wanted Yurika's killer to see justice. He was sorry he had been pissy with Akito because of his friendship with Hikaru. He was sorry that he let the argument between two women, who made no sense anyway, begin to tear the house apart. They needed to stay together, and not just for Jun's sake, but for all of their sakes. It was a sentiment that Akito could agree with.

So there was a reason the events of the following morning had pissed him off and made it necessary for him to finally become actively involved in this war that the musician and the artist had declared against each other.

Itsuki actually was one of the last people to show up to breakfast, as had become the norm the past week. Akito knew it was because the later she showed up for breakfast, the less she had to deal with Hikaru. Hikaru often left for bed as soon as she was finished eating for the same reason.

Akito had been discussing with Hikaru, this time, what they should have for lunch that day, however. Jun had not yet come to breakfast, but it was expected for him not to show. Whatever he decided to make for the main lunch, Akito would end up bringing a plate of it to Jun's guest house and make sure the blue-haired man was okay. Although, with as many of Hikaru's habits as he had been picking up, it was likely had just been up late that night and was still asleep. Either way, as the violet-haired musician dressed in a flimsy little purple dress, Akito felt more worried about the utter hatred that reflected in the two matching pairs of dark brown eyes than Jun.

"Well, it's about time you got up." Akito winced at Hikaru's first bite. He mentally told her to shut up, shut up, shut up. This wasn't helping. What made her think it was helping? Unfortunately, since he had not been quite as blessed as Yurika had been, he could not speak to Hikaru telepathically, so all of his mental messages yielded no results.

Itsuki's lips curled in a vicious snarl, but no guttural sound emerged from her behind her clenched, white teeth. Instead, she flipped back a strand of her violet hair and stuck her nose up snobbishly. "And I suppose that you intend on sleeping the day away as usual, don't you, Amano-san?"

Itsuki's retort caught the attention of those that were not already watching from the moment the door leading into the foyer had opened to reveal the violet-haired woman. Izumi, Hikaru's constant defender, glared holes through Itsuki's torso. Ryoko's eyes shifted between one of her best friends and her lover. Unlike when Hikaru and Itsuki usually clashed, however, Gai bit his lip and clenched his hand into a fist. His back was to his sister, but he didn't turn to look at her. He didn't look at Hikaru either, squeezing his eyes shut so he could possibly make himself hidden.

"You know perfectly well that I work better at night. I use my time efficiently; what do you intend on doing today? Reading all day?"

"You don't even work at all, Hikaru, so I don't believe you have any place to be telling me how to spend my own, well-earned day off."

"Well-earned my ass! We both know you were just handed the job by your parents. You didn't earn it at all."

"I have my position because I was the best one for the job, but I don't suppose someone as lazy as you would understand that, would you?"

"Whatever. You're the best, blah blah blah, is that what you want me to say, Itsuki? It's not going to happen, because it's not true. You rag on me day in and day out for trying. Well, unlike you, Miss Perfect, mere mortals are not given powerful positions in household-name companies. You only have your 'well-earned' days off four days a week because you are your Mommy's and Daddy's little girl."

It happened so fast, it was hard to tell what had actually happened. All Akito knew was that the redhead that had been sitting next to him was no longer, the dishes on the table, which he had been preparing to clean up, were splayed all over the tablecloth, liquid and juices staining the fabric as some of the dishes were bumped, tipped over, or even broken. The air sang with choppy, disconnected music notes as a sudden gust of winds tore through the dining room. Izumi and Gai were much faster Akito, turning to look at what happened with jaws hanging slack before pushing their chairs out from the table and rushing around to the fray. However, Ryoko was the fastest, leaping from her chair at an inconceivable speed and reaching to pull the two women apart.

Gods above, Itsuki had leapt over the table and attacked Hikaru.

The musician's hands closed around Hikaru's neck, her thumbs pushing into Hikaru's throat in attempts to choke her. Later on, Hikaru would state that it more surprised her and pissed her off than actually hurt her or deprived her of air. The redhead, in response, clawed at Itsuki's face before kneeing her hard in the stomach, rolling the two of them so Hikaru now sat on Itsuki, who lay on the floor. Itsuki got a slap in across Hikaru's face before Ryoko descended upon the fray, yanking Hikaru off of Itsuki. Hikaru fell backwards and hit her head against the table. Itsuki quickly pulled herself to her feet as Hikaru rubbed the back of her head, standing up slowly. Just as Itsuki pulled her foot back, intending, obviously, to kick Hikaru in the face, Ryoko harshly pushed her against the wall, easily pinning each wrist against the paneled wall of the dining room. Ryoko pushed her body up against Itsuki's, but Akito could tell the restraining wasn't sexual by the feral look in Ryoko's blue eyes.

By this time, however, Izumi had quickly fallen to Hikaru's side, helping the redhead to her feet. Akito was able to pull himself out of his chair, where he had been frozen for the majority of the attack, and aid Izumi, looking at Hikaru's face. Her left cheek glowed bright red in a way that Akito could tell it would bruise harshly. Hikaru's dark eyes seemed dazed, like she couldn't focus. Akito swore under his breath; Hikaru had a concussion.

A few feet away, Itsuki fought Ryoko's restraining body, to no avail. Ryoko was simply stronger than her, probably even stronger than all of them. Itsuki glared at Ryoko with a venom Akito was not aware Itsuki had. "Let me fucking go!" that cultured voice shrieked, her body rocking against the wall, trying to break free. "The bitch needs to be taught a lesson!"

"You've made your point clear enough," Ryoko said, her voice scarily calm. The room seemed to shake, surprising Akito. He began to worry, not about Itsuki and Hikaru, but about the house. Was Ryoko threatening to break out?

"Yes, you have." Hikaru's own voice was thick, and it was only then that Akito realized that the slap had done something to her mouth. Her teeth were bloody and she was talking funny.

Hikaru simple words, however, were enough to make Itsuki fight with Ryoko again, her body straining to get at the redhead. Akito narrowed his eyes at Itsuki, who had proven herself much stronger than Hikaru was. "Izumi," he softly began, surprised at how shaky his voice was, "go take care of Hikaru." Izumi needed no further prompting, wrapping an arm around her very best friend and quickly leading her out of the dining room.

"Itsuki, let it go. Please," Gai pleaded with his sister. Akito growled under his breath. How dare Gai wait until Akito and Izumi get Hikaru out of the room to reason with Itsuki. How dare he, in this moment where everyone mattered so little, try to save face?

"No, Jiro. I want her fucking out of here. I am so fucking sick of her-"

"She stays." Akito had no idea who had said it until Gai and Ryoko had slowly looked back at him, incredulous. Itsuki bared her teeth at him. Akito swallowed, clenching his hands into fists. "She stays," he repeated, with more conviction, now that he knew that he was the one saying it.

Itsuki's anger shifted from the tomboy holding her down and her brother to the cook to whom she owed no allegiances. "And who the fuck do you think you are to say?"

Akito had no idea. He didn't know what he was doing. But he did know that Hikaru needed stood up for in the face of this powerful, albeit currently savage, woman. "Her friend. Your friend. The person who fucking cooked breakfast this morning while talking to that girl you just attacked and the person who happens to be your near-brother-in-law. That's who, Itsuki." The wind in the room died down, as did the shaking and the disjointed music. However, Akito could feel that he himself was breaking out, the room becoming so bitterly cold that he could see his breath and the breath of those he was close to. So comfortably chilly. It gave him the strength to continue as Itsuki began to stand still and stop fighting her girlfriend. "Aqua-dammit, Itsuki. When I broke up with Gai and was going out with Yurika, I ostracized myself. But not only did I do it by choice, to avoid any awkward moments with us, you didn't ask me to come back. None of you did. The only one who did is that girl you tried to practically kill today."

"I wasn't going to try to kill her," Itsuki muttered. It was barely audible, and that was the only reason Akito did not grace it with a response.

"If you kick her out of the house, she will have no one, just like I had no one."

"You had Yurika," Itsuki exploded, "and that bitch has Uribatake."

It was true. Akito had been with Yurika, but for a short time. Hikaru and Uribatake had been together for longer, but as far as he knew, they were not certain of their feelings for each other. To make Uribatake suddenly all Hikaru had... It might destroy them. But Itsuki wouldn't understand that. Couldn't understand that. Itsuki was not a person who needed friends to be their support beam. She didn't need anyone.

Did she even need Gai and Ryoko?

"Whatever, Itsuki," he settled on sighing. "Believe what you want." He knew there was no reasoning with the violet-haired woman. Instead, he left the room, intending to search out Izumi and Hikaru.

He found the two of them in Hikaru's room, Hikaru holding a bag of ice against her cheek and rushing around the room as Izumi sat on one of the beds. Izumi's crimson eyes shot to Akito as he opened the door, but went back to Hikaru. "At least call him first," Izumi pleaded softly.

"And give him a chance to refuse? Then where would I go Izumi? Would I catch a Jump shuttle and go to Gramma's? How would I pay for that? No, I have to go now." Her words were slightly slurred, but whether that came from the concussion, whatever bleeding was going on in her mouth, or the ice that was numbing her cheek, Akito didn't know. What he did know was that Hikaru was planning on following through with Itsuki's wants, and probably not because the musician wanted her to leave. After all, why else would a suitcase be sitting open on the bed Hikaru actually slept on with clothes wadded up inside of it sloppily?

What was the most surprising is that the room, though painted white and blue with a soft aqua carpet, twinkled with a shifting, yellow glow. Akito knew the color and knew it well, but had never seen it so bright and easy to see. At other times, it would be fleeting, hard to pin down with a gaze. This shine was hard to miss. But its existence was not was what surprising. What caused it, however, was. Although Hikaru paced around the room sporadically, she opened no door or drawer with her hands. Since her magic was placed in something that was present at all times, the air, she could manipulate it at will, especially since she was the strongest of them. But Akito had never imagined that she could practically move things with her mind. Of course, he knew that her clothes and items were simply riding strong gusts of Hikaru's wind, but it looked as if, with each wave of her right arm, her possessions were moving on their own.

Looking at the mess of her suitcase made Akito wince. He had become a quick expert on organizing one's possessions so they fit well in small spaces once he Boson Jumped to Earth from Mars. He had to; he had to fit all of his clothes and cooking utensils in one small backpack. Not that he had much when he arrived on Earth, but he did have enough once he lived there for a while. As he thought about it, it was the one thing he was able to do for Yurika before he had to resort to hiding from her. That was before he knew her. Before the Nadesico. Before... everything.

"Call who?" he finally asked, as if he had to. The sum of the dark and crimson gazes told him all he needed to know. Uribatake, of course. Exactly who Hikaru could depend on, perhaps, if she couldn't depend on her best friends.

"Seiya," Hikaru answered, turning her back before raising her right hand, palm up. A pile of papers lifted into the air steadily before she swiped the same hand in the direction of her bag. They flew over and landed heavily in the suitcase. It was then and only then that Akito realized that, save for the gust of air she was using to move her things around, the air in the room was deathly still.

Akito's heart skipped a bit. 'She's leashing it. She's focusing her break-outs on moving her stuff. Otherwise, if she lets go... She knows she may wreck the house.' The one who couldn't control the leaking of her own magic was so focused on keeping it under control because otherwise Yamada Manor may not stand. She was hiding it, keeping it away from others, for their own sakes. Akito's eyes trailed out the window, which showed the back-end of Jun's guest house.

Hikaru had to stay. There was nothing else that Akito could do. But he had to get her to stay. Not for Itsuki, not for herself, and certainly not for him. But for Jun, whose emotions had been turned, by this redhead here, inward. So he could use them productively. So he wouldn't break out. So he wouldn't hurt anyone. Hikaru, Akito finally realized, was the only one standing between them and Jun's flaming fury and sadness.

Akito snatched the next thing that flew through the air towards the suitcase, a pink striped blouse, and held it up, as if allowing both the blue-haired woman and the redhead examine what he just did. And examine they did. Izumi frowned but said nothing, but Hikaru, her eyes swimming with unshed, angry tears and her jaw shifting as she clenched and unclenched her teeth, spoke slowly and softly, "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Aqua-damn women and their mood swings. "Stopping you from making a terrible mistake."

Hikaru snarled at him, closed the distance in two steps, and yanked the top out of his hand, harshly throwing it at the suitcase, obviously not caring if it landed correctly or not. She turned away and faced her ample bookcase, which held every book she had, as she dropped the ice pack onto the floor. She positioned her hands to pull them off, her back muscles flexing slowly as she began to concentrate.

Izumi stood slowly, carefully forming her words as she continued to frown at the Martian. She knew what she was doing; she was trying to remain out of the fray while helping her best friend. At the same time, it was obvious that Izumi only wanted what was best for Hikaru, even if she ignored the whole to do so. "Just what are you on about, Tenkawa?" Surname. Of course. Everyone but Ryoko called him by his own name, unless he was on thin ice. Then he was always Tenkawa.

Akito rolled his eyes at Izumi. She didn't get it. She was close, when she asked Hikaru to call Uribatake first, but she really didn't get it. For someone who was easily the smartest one among them, she really was dense. "Look, Hikaru," he turned his gaze to the redhead, ignoring Izumi completely, "I get it. You don't want to be here. You don't want to cause any feelings of awkwardness in the house. You think that if you stay after Itsuki, someone you think matters more to us than you, has said she doesn't want you here, you're very existence will cause waves. You'd rather go on and not be noticed rather than shunned just for being in the room."

When Akito began speaking, Hikaru's collection of manga was in the air and floating towards her suitcase. As he continued, they dropped from the air, splaying themselves on her carpet as she lowered her head. She pulled her large, round spectacles off her face with one hand while she covered her eyes with another. Izumi took a step to her side, but was stopped when Akito shook his head. He still had more to say.

"It was like that, for you, wasn't it, Akito?" Hikaru whispered softly, but just loud enough to be heard. She voice was no longer slurred, but instead choppy from the tears Akito knew were streaming down her face. He didn't have to see it; he just knew.

"Yes. But you tried, didn't you?" Akito swallowed. "The easiest thing in the world, Hikaru, may be just to leave. To let this room become a guest room. After all, you don't want to be here, and Itsuki certainly doesn't want you to be here. How can you be sure that anyone wants you to be here, right?" At Hikaru slow, sad nod, he went on. "But Hikaru, wants are not important. And right now, there are two men in your life that need you to be here right now."

"You and Junny." It was such a simple, and incorrect, deduction.

"Only half-right, my dear." Hikaru finally turned around, her pale face as red as the whites of her eyes. Izumi closed the distance between her and her best friend, wrapping an arm around the smaller girls' shoulders. Akito took this as a since of support. Perhaps not for his words, but certainly in helping Hikaru have the strength to hear them. "There is no mistake; Jun needs you. I didn't realize it at first. You know that. But... I just now, as I walked into this room a minute or so ago, found out why. I couldn't have helped him because for me to help him I would have had to help him let go of Yurika right away. You knew that, and that it was impossible. Or... that it would cause lasting damage. Izumi couldn't help him, because she would encourage him to cover up the loss with the gain of another thing. A new hobby, perhaps, or even a new relationship." Izumi visibly bristled at Akito's words, but he didn't care. It didn't matter what she thought of him. Nothing mattered. As long as he could get Hikaru to stay, he would say what was needed to be said. Izumi, for all rights and purposes, could go fuck herself. "Neither of these things would be healthy. He would never be able to go through the day. He would break, destroyed under his loss and be only a part of what he used to be. You knew that. You didn't help him single-handedly because you were magically strong enough to stop any breaking out. You helped him because you could. You were able to let him focus less on the world outside and worry, instead, about his emotions and feelings. You gave him an outlet that was safe, but also would not allow him to mask his feelings. You taught him how to focus his anger and his sadness and loneliness and his rage and his pain into something he loved. You taught him how not to give up and just let go. You got him to piece himself back together. You brought him back from the edge of sanity." Akito breathed heavily. Had he taken a breath at all as he spoke? "You did all of this, Hikaru. And right now, Jun can't be with us as much as he can with you. We will try out tactics, but they will hurt him. Yours have already worked. He needs you around him to help him live his life."

Hikaru pressed her face into Izumi's chest, her shoulders shaking from the sobs. Izumi held the redhead, letting a pale hand brush over the strands softly. All the while, her eyes did not leave Akito. Her gaze was not judgmental, but neither was it innocent. He knew what she was doing: she was questioning his motives, trying to find out why he would push the artist to tears in trying to get her to stay. After a few moments, Hikaru turned back, tears streaming down her cheeks as she looked back at the Martian. "A-a-and the other?"

Akito sighed. He wished he could just whisk Izumi out of the room, honestly. This would have been so much easier to say if she wasn't there, after all. "It's... a little more selfish. For you. But, honestly? I think you deserve to be a little selfish, Hikaru." He took a deep breath. "It's Uribatake." Hikaru blinked slowly, separating herself from Izumi, but she said nothing, nodding to indicate that Akito should go on. He sighed again. This would be _so_ much easier if Izumi would just go away. "Look, Hikaru, you aren't ready to live with him. You just aren't. I know, you've lived with other guys before, but this is different. I live here because living here means I live with Gai. Ryoko does the same. Izumi, however, doesn't live with Inez. Not that she could now, but that's not the point." He gritted his teeth. He didn't want to enter _that_ particular country of subject, so he worked to get out of it. "You're still a virgin, aren't you, Hikaru?"

The color drained out of her face. She snarled again, finding her voice. "I don't have a hymen anymore, if that's what you mean."

"No, Hikaru, that's not what I mean. I know that already, and the less spoken about that, the better." He shuddered to make his point. "But no, I mean... you haven't fucked him yet, have you?"

Hikaru blushed. "No. But I just... I don't see a point right now. I mean... I don't even know how I feel about him."

"Right. See? Right there. You don't need to complicate things by moving in with him. Especially right now."

Hikaru narrowed her eyes. "Why?"

"Well, from what Gai said last night, Ariko is there and sleeping in the guest room. The only other room with a bed is-"

"His room. Not a problem. I'm sure we can share the bed, or I can crash on the couch."

"No, Hikaru. Now, I don't know Uribatake as well as you, but based on his previous behavior-"

"No, Akito. You listen. Seiya wouldn't do that to me. He would never, ever force me. Ever. He plays it off as if he's a playboy, but Aer-dammit, Akito, he isn't. He told me himself. He's serious about me. He wants to make sure he does it right. Asking me to do that just for a place to sleep... He wouldn't do that."

Akito regretted this entire conversation. He should have never mentioned it, but as he knew better than most, he couldn't change the past. "Okay. Whatever you say. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have brought it up. You would know him best, of course. But... Hikaru..."

"What, Akito?" Akito winced at her tone. She was mad about a lot of things. She felt betrayed by a great many of her friends. She was hurt. And she had been awake for a very long time. It wasn't entirely his fault, but he couldn't help but feel like he may have just pushed her over the edge.

"...Promise me you'll stay."

Hikaru and Akito watched each other for a long time. Finally, Hikaru sighed. "Sure. I guess. Izumi, can you help me put my stuff back? It seems as if I've made a mess of it."

Akito took this as a dismissal, and quickly and quietly left the room, shutting her door with a click. Now he could trust Izumi to heed his words. He sighed himself, feeling the weight of the world slide off his shoulders, but not before ripping into his skin.

Who was he to judge Hikaru's and Uribatake's relationship? Just because they hadn't had sex didn't mean that it was imminent. Just because they hadn't declared their undying love for each other didn't mean that the relationship was fleeting until they had done so. Uribatake had had feelings for Hikaru for a long time, and Hikaru had been alone for a longer time. They were still feeling each other out. Hadn't he and Gai been able to keep their own hands off of each other until they actually were together the second time?

'Gai didn't proclaim himself to be the lord of sex, either.' He didn't care what it was called, brotherly protectiveness, or whatever. He didn't want Hikaru's relationship with Uribatake to be screwed up, by anyone.

He looked out the hall window towards the house extension that was Jun's house. Besides, he was right about Jun. The blue-haired man that was older than all of the rest of them needed the redhead at his disposal. If Akito had to explain that to Itsuki, then that woman was certainly either selfish or not right in the head.

---

Megumi entered the hotel room first, tugging at the straps of her lilac-and-gray sundress before scratching the back of her head, tousling her loose, purple locks. She entered first because Rumiko had held the door open for her. It did not take long for the former voice actress to realize why, as Rumiko slammed it shut, finally showing his anger in a physical way.

Not that Megumi couldn't understand his emotions. She could, really. After yesterday's failure with Itsuki, they were back at square one. They had gone back to the house Yurika and Jun had purchased to look around again, but there wasn't even any crime scene tape up anymore.

It was as if they were being told to give up.

Megumi glanced at the clock. "Rumiko," she said softly, doubtlessly using the sweeter tones of her talented voice to get his attention without drawing his rage, "It's almost fifteen to five. Should I call up room service?"

"No. We had that for lunch and dinner yesterday. It was terrible." He pulled off the thin silver jacket he wore and tossed it on the bed where Megumi sat. Although it was the middle of July, Rumiko swore that Earth's summers were far too chilly for a Southern Ninlanders like him. Plus, Megumi was sure he liked the outward symbol of his power in the color silver; whenever they were on Earth, Rumiko wore at least one article of silver clothing, Ninlandish or Earthling, no matter how much it clashed with whatever else he was wearing. Try as she might, she was never able to get him to embrace the idea of fashion.

"Then I'll look for a restaurant in the area." Megumi pressed a key on the hotel's video phone and a screen popped up: the hotel's phone listing. She began to search for restaurants within walking distance of their hotel in Tokyo. "Rumiko, there's an Italian restaurant just down the block. Want to go there?"

"I don't even know what 'Italian' is, Meg. Or did you forget that I'm not from Earth?"

Megumi ignored the direct insult to her intelligence. "Pasta, tomatoes, garlic... Hatanian cuisine." Hatan was a small town in Lennon that, while it bordered a gorgeous forest that made the Forest of Femininity look drab, they had a wealth of chefs that seemed to know only how to make dishes that Megumi found incredibly similar to Earth's own Italian food.

Rumiko growled under his breath and ran a hand through his hair. Megumi ignored him. Rumiko got like this sometimes, especially lately, while running circles trying to find out who was behind the almost legendary Jumper Murders. He was frustrated. Megumi was frustrated too, but she also knew that if she responded to Rumiko's grumbles in any way, she could easily jeopardize her marriage. So she kept quiet.

To tell the truth, after the confrontation at Mugendai Industries, Megumi had finally begun to realize what loss was about. Megumi, unlike so many of the Nadesico crew, still had a living family. Her parents, her younger sister Carol, and her little brother Hunter all still lived in America. Of course, they hated her; not for leaving America to live in Japan as a foreign exchange student. Not for becoming a voice actress or for joining the crew of the Nadesico. They hated her because of her ties to Ninlan, and to the Class A Jumpers of Mars, Ninlan, and even Jupiter. Megumi didn't know if this was hate sprung from fear or not, but she did know it was relatively easy for her to get over her loss of her own family. They weren't dead, just gone from her life forever.

No, not forever. She was able to contact them, if she truly wanted to fight with them. And that was where Megumi's loss ended and others' began. Rumiko lost his parents to disease or the Gods themselves. His twin sister he lost to the hands of Magus, his own patron God. Rumiko could never, ever speak to his family again, not even to fight with them. Megumi didn't understand his pain, she knew now. Megumi also knew that Akito's parents had died in an explosion on Mars, but even then, Megumi didn't understand.

When she lost Mythos, she thought she understood. She was angry, hurt, and sick all at once when she learned that not only was one of Rumiko's most trusted advisors dead, but he was murdered in their home. When Yurika was killed, Megumi thought she understood. Yurika had become one of Megumi's closest friends. To lose Yurika, Megumi felt as if she had lost a limb. Megumi was not sure how she would go on without Yurika, so she buried herself in trying to find her killer. She focused more on getting Yurika the justice she deserved, rather than try to conceive a world where there was suddenly no Yurika to smile and brighten a room.

But she didn't understand. Not until the morning before. Not until she saw loss in motion. Itsuki, after all, only lost her parents in the Lizard War, just as it started to begin. She had to get over them quickly to react and plan out where she would go from there. It was only now, in this peace Yurika had created, that she was able to grieve. And she did so, obviously, by Boson Jumping to her old home, which may, for all Megumi knew, have been the only way into the ruin.

And it was this Jumping that made them suspect her of murder.

No, not until the morning before did Megumi understand that loss was not just about emotion. It was about gathering the strength to go on, in any way you can. Megumi, no matter how much she wanted Yurika's killers to face justice, did not need to be doing this. She needed to be able to grieve the loss of one of her dearest friends, her former rival for Akito's affections, her former captain. The woman she had come to respect as a leader, a competitor, and a person. The friend... she would never see again.

Megumi felt a tear escape her right eye, and she reached up quickly to wipe it away. "Gods above," she whispered to herself. "When will this end?"

"To tell you the truth, Meg? It looks like when we are able to catch them in the act," Rumiko replied curtly, cleaning his glasses on his black shirt. "Which I don't even think is possible at this point."

Even as she sniffed, willing herself to not cry anymore, Megumi felt a sense of hope. Finding Yurika's killers could never bring her back; Megumi knew that. But perhaps, just perhaps, it could make Megumi be able to move on. "Are you sure?"

"What, that it's impossible? No, of course not. But I am sure that chasing them down like this isn't going to work, and hasn't been working." Rumiko replaced his glasses on his nose and squinted as his eyes adjusted to the vision aids.

Megumi frowned, keeping her eyes fixed on the dark blue carpet of their hotel room. "I'm sure... that if we keep trying..."

"We've tried, Megan. Gods know we've tried! We tried when it was Mythos, and we've tried when it was Yurika. I don't know what else we can possibly do, Megan. If there is anything we could do, I would do it in a heartbeat. You know that. But it looks like this is going to be the mystery of the century, the mystery no one was able to solve. The sooner we give up, the sooner it will be over." Rumiko reached over to the room's elongated dresser and picked up his hat. It was the closest thing to a crown that the Ninlandish Emperor was to wear, and Rumiko didn't leave home without it. He always said that it reminded him of how he came to his position, but Megumi always said that he brought it along to remind himself that he was supposed to be in charge.

"What do you mean by that? Are you saying that our search has been --"

"Killing them ourselves? In a way, I suppose." Rumiko sat next to Megumi, twisting in his position so he would face her. "Look at this. We always knew that those that were killed were prominent figureheads, especially figureheads that could represent places, geographically." Megumi nodded, prompting Rumiko to continue. "And we also entertained the idea that those people would have been blamed for the other deaths, geographically. Earth and Jupiter are rough against each other since the Treaty of Mars, correct? A famous Jupiterian, Kusakabe Haruki, is killed in his home. Obviously, all eyes turn to Earth. Then Aqua Crimson, the head of a corporation that is the leading manufacturer of barrier systems, yes? She turns up murdered as well, just as Ninlan is starting to collect investors for our own infantile barrier system businesses. So, naturally..."

"Everyone suspects Ninlan." Megumi knew all of this. She knew Rumiko knew she was aware of all of this. Had he a point?

"Exactly. But then Mythos is killed, and we have more evidence than ever to point the finger at Yurika. She would have been a perfect scapegoat."

"But they killed her."

Rumiko nodded solemnly. "I... I regret how I treated Yurika before she was killed, but there is nothing I can do. I can't even try to find her killer anymore." He stood and clasped his hands behind him, walking to the window and staring out, not really seeing anything.

Megumi frowned. "Why not, Rumiko?"

"Don't you see, Meg? The very next person we suspect without doubt will be the next to die, unless we are right. I'm not the person to answer the question of whether it is worse to let a murderer run loose, or worse to condemn an innocent person to death." Rumiko bent his head, his golden eyes closing halfway. "I don't want to be remembered as the emperor that led innocent people to the slaughterhouse."

"Oh, Roomy." Megumi stood and walked over to him, fingering her wedding pendant. She stood behind him and wrapped her arms around his middle. He was nearly a whole foot taller than her, but Megumi didn't mind. She pressed her freckled cheek to the back of his shirt. "It will be all right. We have to believe that it will be all right. We just... have to. I... I don't know how else to go on now, Rumiko. She was so close to me, and just like that... she's gone. I need to find out who did this to her. Who did this to me."

It was so simple. Megumi's eyes widened and her arms slowly dropped from Rumiko's torso as the pieces finally fit together. It was just like that, she would say later on. Like a flash, the way to bring justice to Yurika, Mythos, and the others appears before her mind's eye as if someone was telling to it her. She knew; _she knew._ She knew how to catch them. "Gods," she whispered stepped backward before spinning, holding a hand over her mouth as she began to pace, glance all around her but not seeing the hotel room. Instead, she saw all the pieces of the mystery, all the pieces that didn't seem to fit. Of course. Of course. The pieces looked like they fit in one way, but they actually fit together in another. Only then was the picture clear.

"Megan? Are you all right? Do you need a doctor?"

"No, no. I'm fine. Oh, Gods. I can't believe-- I mean, I never _saw_ it before..."

"What, Megan?"

"I know. I know!"

Rumiko growled in frustrated. "For the love of Magus, what are you talking about, Megan!"

Rumiko's cry yanked Megumi back to reality, but her mind still raced, trying to form her epiphany into words that Rumiko could understand. "I... I... Rumiko, I know how to find the Jumper Murderers. I know how."

Rumiko's eyes widened and he sank into the chair next to the same table by the window. "Tell me." Not a command, but not a request, either. It was almost as if he was giving her permission to begin what they both knew would be a spiel.

Megumi, freed by his consent to hear about her idea paced while wringing her hands. Her eyes darted along the carpet of the hotel room as she tried to make her plan seem sensical, logical, rather than visionary. "It... It's just like you said, Roomy. We need to catch them in the act. We need to set up the perfect situation where we can so obviously catch them without them knowing that they are walking into a trap."

"A trap. Megan, we don't even know who we're trapping. How do you propose that we set this trap, or any trap, for these people?"

"Bait. Bait is the key here Rumiko. You know that. It's so easy to see. Don't you see it?" Megumi knit her brows and held out her arms, stopping suddenly. It was all so simple. Rumiko was supposed to be intelligent. How come he didn't see it?

"I'm just asking who you suspect, Meg. That's all." His voice was soft, much softer than Megumi had ever heard it. For once, he was the one tiptoeing around.

Megumi rubbed her eyes. She didn't know. She couldn't know. That was the point. The point was to catch them in the act. To point a finger, as Rumiko said, was to condemn an innocent person to death. "I have an idea. But... it's not important."

"Humor me, please."

Megumi sighed, waving a hand in the air, keeping her eyes closed so she could read the black insides of her eyelids. "Erina and Inez."

Rumiko groaned, standing up. He ran his hands through his hair, working his fingers through the snags in his black tresses. "Megan, Lady Ai is in prison for exactly what you're suggesting. Someone anonymously tipped the authorities --"

"I know. I know. But she hasn't been attacked yet. That doesn't say anything, but still. I know she could get out if she wanted out. Inez is the most experienced and knowledgeable Jumper there is. She surpasses Akito, and most of the Holy Jupiterian Empire, too. And what if they never notice her leave? I'm telling you, Rumiko. She's involved. Who else came up with a reasonable excuse for Martians to not be restricted to Onikirimaru-san, Akito, Yurika, and herself?"

"Okay. Okay. I'm not telling you you're wrong."

"Right, right, it's just a theory," Megumi rushed out, feeling her face grow red with indignation. "It's not important anyway. The important thing is the execution of the plan." Megumi looked directly at Rumiko, watching his face as she formed her words carefully. "We need someone that will willingly pose as a fake suspect."

Megumi could see the plan form behind his thick black spectacles. His shaking hands rose to his own wedding pendant, his eyes closing as he sighed softly and tilted his head to the ceiling. He moved his gaze back to her, his dark eyebrows furrowed. "Who?"

Megumi shook her head. "I don't know. I mean, who would put themselves in such danger? And who would be believable?"

"Someone identifiable geographically, a rather public figurehead, and a direct connection with the Nadesico," mumbled Rumiko. When Megumi tilted her head, he swallowed before raising his voice. "Other distinct traits the victims all shared."

Megumi nodded. "I see. Well, it can't be Earth, Jupiter, or Ninlan... Mars, perhaps?"

Rumiko shook his head. "Mars doesn't have any living citizens beyond Miss Onikirimaru, Tenkawa, and Lady Ai. None that could be believable beyond those, at least. Besides, it could be said that Yurika represented Mars."

"It can't be the colonies or the Moon, because those are Earth territories..." Megumi looked out the window. There was absolutely no way she could bring herself to say it. "Rumiko? Next Sunday. We are being inducted into the System Alliance."

"Yes..."

"... Isn't there another who's joining the United Earth Alliance that same day?"

Rumiko looked at her oddly, then dug into the drawer in the nightstand next to their bed. After several minutes of ruffling pages and exasperated sighing, Megumi heard his answer. "Switzerland."

Megumi's breath caught in her throat. "Damn it, Rumiko. We don't have a choice as to who it is. We only have one option."

Rumiko glared at her with increased ferocity. "Who, Megan?"

Megumi swallowed, unable to say for some time. Finally, she choked out, "Ruri."

---

Jun actually did not meet Sato Tashi, Subtracting Worlds's manager until late Thursday night. Jun was not due to go in until Saturday night, of course, but he felt that he needed to show up on another night. Of course, this need came less from wanting to come in and work and more from needing to come in to get the hell out of Yamada Manor, if only for a few hours. Plus, in that week, he had finished up another song he wanted to kick around with the band.

Simply put, Jun could not stand the sight of his guest house anymore. It had so many meanings to him that he couldn't possibly look at the furniture in the three rooms that made up his personal space in the massive house without remembering things. When he was upset because Yurika was going out with Erina and burning his poems, which he now wished he had held onto. When Yurika broke up with the only woman she ever dated and came to Yamada Manor to be with him and Ryoko. When he and Yurika finally had sex, revoking his status as the male virgin in Yamada Manor's residency. When Yurika proposed to him, and when he finally accepted. And now, having to come back to the house to live, because he had no where else to go.

Of course, it didn't help that the person who helped him through the toughest part of his loss was now fighting with one of the people who was so kind to take him in in the first place.

Jun had done his best that past week to stay out of Hikaru and Itsuki's way, especially when they tangled. Jun knew, somehow, that he would be pulled into it as collateral. And, after yesterday, Hikaru had been talking to him a lot more, which worried Jun. It wasn't that Jun wasn't grateful for her sharing her methods for dealing with grief, or for sitting with him and working with him over the worst parts of his despair, but... Jun felt like he was being used as an excuse to stay.

Either way, Jun knew he needed to get out and stop just hanging around at home.

He hadn't intended to spend the still-early evening being treated differently because of the red markings on his dominant hand, though.

Sato Tashi was an aging, yet gentle man that was gracious with his introduction to Jun. Jun was surprised at his snake-like eyes, mostly because they were so captivating, but also because the color made him feel his caffeine need surge. Even though he was short, a bit on the round side, and with gray streaks running through his thick blonde hair, he wore some of the same bizarre styles adopted by Subtracting Worlds, including animal ears (which Umeko also sported that night), tank tops in unflattering colors, and incredibly baggy and dark pants. Jun, however, took a liking to him that was quickly crushed when he watched the man's tan face contort as Anzai said Jun's name.

Sato's wrinkles became more pronounced as he knit together his strikingly light brows. "You mean," he said in his slightly high-pitched voice, "Aoi Jun the..." He looked pointedly at Jun's hands, which he had at his belt loops. Jun felt his upper lip curl in disgust. Sato wouldn't see anything without looking hard; Jun had been prudent enough, this time, to wear a pair of silver gloves to match the silk shirt he wore that day. Still, Jun knew it would do no good to get upset and alter the room's temperature. What was the point of hiding the markings if someone could tell from you heating the room up to unbearable temperatures?

Sato cleared his throat, catching himself. "Aoi Jun, the man who lost his wife almost two weeks ago?" Jun nodded solemnly. Sato continued, patting his now-sweating brow with a handkerchief. "Ah, yes. I'm very sorry about that. Tragic, really. Well, it's nice to know that you're getting along well with this crew; I know they're a bit of a handful." Jun had no chance to respond before Subtracting Worlds's manager was mostly out the door. "Well, I've got to go home, see the wife and all, so I'll see you all again... Saturday, isn't it?"

"Sure, Sato-san," Hidekazu said shortly before the stout man made his leave.

Anzai hit a hand against his desk, making all of his belongings rattle. Kiyomitsu, the spritely thin brother to the band's only girl member, swore under his breath before turning to Jun. "He can't help it. I'm sorry about that, Aoi-san. He's just a superstitious man, that's all. He... he didn't mean to offend."

"I know," Jun replied, sinking into the nearest chair.

"No, Jun-kun, you know that we're not going to get rid of you just because of what Sato thinks, right? I mean, so what if he has something against Jumpers? That's his problem. No, you're stuck with us now," Umeko interjected, jumping out of her own seat and kneeling next to Jun's, resting her hands and cheek on her thigh. Jun looked pointedly at Hidekazu, but he showed no jealousy.

"Right, especially since that one song you let us have? 'Here and There'? We uh... we recorded it," Anzai scratched the back of his head sheepishly.

Jun's face fell. "Are... are you serious?" It was insane, it had to be. They had only had his lyrics for, what, two weeks, almost? They were able to write music for it and work out all the kinks in that short amount of time?

Hidekazu smirked his seemingly trademark smirk and crossed his arms. "Single's going out in a week or so." Jun felt his heart stop.

Umeko stood up and grinned. "What can we say? Anzai and I are serious workaholics when it comes to music. We just drag Hidekazu and Kiyomitsu in kicking and screaming."

Anzai mirrored her grin in a way that only a former significant other could. "Want to hear it?" Jun didn't trust his voice, so he nodded his head, his hands shaking in his lap. Anzai turned to his computer and turned up his volume before starting up the song.

The song, for all intents and purposes, was gorgeous in Jun's eyes. It started out with Umeko's electric guitar as Anzai sang softly, powerfully, the first few lines. Words that Jun had written were set to music, with that perfect, slightly accented voice beating them out as if it was simply meant to be. Soon, Umeko's soft, crooning voice entered the picture, molding the song from a song simply of lament and pain into one of confusion, one of surrealism, and one of desire. It was beautiful and agonizing, arousing and confusing, even lovely and harsh at the same time.

"'...The grass is always greener on the other side,'" Anzai sang alone on the recording, before Umeko joined for the last line, "'the gray hasn't changed in your blind eyes."

All of Subtracting Worlds turned toward Jun, as if for approval. Umeko blinked a few times, then turned to her brother. "Kiyo! Get Jun-kun some tissues!" Jun shook his head and blinked. It wasn't that he was saddened. No, in fact, he was the happiest he had felt in the past few weeks. It was just... He finally had something in his life go right.

"No, Miss Johnson, I'm fine."

"You sure?"

"Yes." Jun glanced at Anzai, who had a very large smile on his face. He elbowed Hidekazu in the ribs. "We're going to go gold with this guy."

Hidekazu smirked. "Gold? I'm betting platinum."

Kiyomitsu grinned, nodding quickly as his eyes lit up. "We'll have our fame at last!"

Umeko rolled her eyes. "Oh, Kiyo. You're just worried about being popular, aren't you?"

"Well, duh."

Hidekazu pointed at Kiyomitsu. "You, small one. You're the only one that can stand Sato. Tell him that Jun here is to be in on the next photo shoot."

"What!" Jun found his voice enough to make it crack at Hidekazu's announcement.

Anzai laughed heartily, his white teeth showing in the artificial light. "Well, come on, Jun-kun. I mean, you're going to single-handedly pull Subtracting Worlds into stardom. You need some recognition other than your name. Besides," he snapped his fingers and Umeko squeezed together the cheeks on his face, "you're just so cute! The fangirls will eat you right up, right, Umeko?"

"You bet they will!"

"Fangirls?"

"Right. Okay, we need to get back to work, people," Anzai said, brushing off Jun as Umeko let go of his sore cheeks. Each of them went to their respective desks and started ruffling pages. "Jun-kun... You mind if I just call you Jun?"

Jun shook his head. "Actually, at home, they call me, um... Junny."

Anzai laughed a bit under his breath. "Junny. It fits you. Anyway... you think maybe you can work off of music to write lyrics? It would save time, plus we needed a songwriter because we have music, but no words to fit it, you know?"

Jun nodded, then remembered his work from the past week. "Oh, actually, I've got one now."

Anzai blinked several times before glancing back where the rest of the band was plugging in instruments and playing with them to make sure they were in tune. He looked back at Jun. "Damn man, you don't waste time, do you?"

Jun shrugged before pulling out the folder from under his seat and handing it to Anzai. Jun knew that he had been working his ass off because it was what Hikaru suggested. It had worked, for the most part, but Jun was worried about the content. Just about everything he would write for a while, he knew, would have something to do with Yurika, Yurika's death, and his grief. This song that he had written, "Freedom to Cry", was no exception.

Anzai looked it over, bobbing his head at different rhythms as he tried to find a beat in Jun's words. He glanced at the blue-haired man once before turning back to his band. "Well, guys, looks like we were lucky enough to snap up a songwriter who is just as dedicated and work-obsessed as we are. Dude wrote us some lyrics for a new song in less than a week."

Jun found it hard to concentrate on writing anything while they were playing. He kept getting distracted as they played some notes over and over, tweaking them just slightly each time, to try to fit his words. Jun wanted to write something else. He needed to. That was the whole point of him being there. But he just couldn't... stop watching them work with his words.

It wasn't until about two-thirty that the band members began to yawn and roll their heads around on their shoulders in attempts to alleviate the tension. Umeko was the first then, to unplug her electric guitar and declare to her exboyfriend that she was done. "Anzai, it's two-thirty in the morning. Some of us have side jobs and no time to sleep all day long. I, for one, do not want to be falling asleep as dudes are trying to remember their girlfriend's ring sizes for their engagement rings at the store tomorrow."

Anzai sighed, unplugged his own guitar, and reached up to massage his own shoulders. "Okay, guys. Umeko is beginning to whine. Time to call it quits for the night."

Jun took this opportunity to stand up from his seat for what seemed like the first time in years. He had, of course, gotten snacks, drinks, and gone to the bathroom in attempts to get his mind to work, but since he spent most of his time during those three and a half hours sitting in his chair. His knees cracked and he stretched luxuriously, his shirt rising a bit to show his pale stomach.

The band wrapped up cords and said their goodbyes, Kiyomitsu trying to drag Umeko out faster than she was moving. "I have class in the morning!" he exclaimed as the older sibling took her sweet time putting her instrument away.

Hidekazu did not walk his girlfriend and her brother out, but instead left on his own after giving a small high-five to Anzai, who stayed behind. Jun began gathering his writing materials, but was stopped when Anzai's hand fell on his shoulder. Jun looked behind him, hooking some of his blue hair behind an ear.

Anzai frowned at him, holding up the piece of paper that had the new song's lyrics written on it. "Why did you write this?" Jun bit his lip. He didn't want to have this conversation with the man who hired him for this job, Jun's dream job. "Why did you write this?" he repeated.

Jun opened his mouth to speak. "Well, I--"

"Because it's good. Too good. But that's not why I'm asking." Anzai shook his head and let his arm drift back to his side. "How are you holding up, Junny?"

"I'm fine."

"Bullshit." Anzai dropped the song onto Jun's pile of papers and folders. "You aren't doing so well at all, are you?"

Jun felt a surge of anger in his veins, a strange feeling, and one that he hadn't felt in what seemed like years. "Why do you ask?" he said shortly, gritting his teeth. He would not break out.

"These words, Junny. Goddammit, where the hell are you staying where everyone is telling you to bury your feelings?"

"I'm staying with my friends."

"Friends wouldn't tell you that you can't let out your feelings. Friends wouldn't tell you to shut yourself up and do nothing but overwork yourself. Just how many song lyrics have you written in the past week, Jun?"

"What does it matter? If I can sustain a high output--"

"How many, Jun?"

Jun swallowed before answering. "Thirteen."

Anzai sighed heavily. "I'm just... I'm concerned about you, Jun. This isn't the right kind of thing for our band, but that doesn't matter. I'm worried because it seems like the only place you can show your feelings are in the songs you write. What sort of friends would you be living with that would consider that healthy behavior?"

"Ones that don't want the fucking house burnt down!" Jun shouted, finally snapping his anger. Anzai's amber eyes widened and he took a step back. Jun looked away, feeling ashamed. He had frightened Anzai, and now there was no going back. "Look, Anzai, I don't think I can do this any more."

"You're not quitting." A statement, not a question. Jun looked back at the head of Subtracting Worlds, who had a hand pressed to his violet shirt. "Jun... we all knew from the get-go that you were a Jumper. But..." Anzai took his right hand and slowly pulled off the gaudy glove. "What exactly does red mean?"

Jun swallowed. This was it. "Red means that I was chosen by Flamma. She's... she's the Pentakami Goddess of Fire." He swallowed again. "I'm a specific kind that can actually..." Jun turned his hand palm up and let loose a small bit of his anger. Fire flared up in his hand, causing Anzai to jump back in surprise. Taking a deep breath, Jun continued to explain. "If I feel intense emotion, I can heat up the room. If it's powerful enough, like... like my feelings of loss in regards to Yurika..."

"You could burn the house down." At Jun's nod, Anzai sighed. "Maybe... maybe I just don't under how Jumpers and Jumper magic works. But I do understand that emotion shouldn't only have one channel. Maybe your friends... those that say they are 'helping' you..." he waved a hand towards Jun's pile, "I don't think they understand as well as I do."

Jun thought he must have been insane to say such things. Izumi lost two lovers and could lose another to the prison system. Hikaru lost both of her parents, one to disease and the other to suicide. Gai and Itsuki both lost their parents in the Lizard War. Akito's parents were killed by Nergal. Ryoko's mother died of space pneumonia. Shouldn't they, more than anyone else, perhaps, know how to deal with grief and loss?

But still, something resonated in Anzai's words. Maybe... they were so biased in their own methods, they didn't really care whether or not they worked for Jun.

Anzai fell to his knees and took Jun's hands in his own. "You were a magnificent find for Worlds. Everyone thinks so. I don't want to lose you because your friends can't help you get over her. Please, tell me you will."

Jun's mind reeled. Will _what?_ Anzai must have asked him to do something while he was thinking. "Um, excuse me? I was... thinking."

Anzai laughed softly, but did not rise. "Jun, please, wherever your staying... move out. Come be my roommate, or go find yourself another place. Just... you need to move on, and your friends aren't helping much. I can tell."

Jun didn't want to leave Yamada Manor. But still, the things he came that evening to escape rose in his mind. The memories, the emotions, the feelings. The arguments and the commitments he had. All of that he came to escape, if only for one night. Anzai was offering him a chance to escape all of that. He loved his friends, and whether or not Anzai was right, Jun knew that he would not be able to get over Yurika while he still lived in their home.

Jun nodded slowly. "I'll think about it Anzai, but... it'll be hard, you know."

"I expect nothing less. Besides, then we'll be able to get so much done with what you already have!" he said jokingly, pulling himself to his feet.

Jun smiled and got his things together. But just before he left, he turned to Anzai, who was putting his shoes on. "Anzai?"

"Yeah?"

Jun swallowed. "You're a good guy," he said lamely, shouting at himself in his mind.

Anzai laughed loudly this time. "Sure, sure, Junny."

---

Ruri yawned, covering her mouth politely as he mother glared at her. Ever since it had been deemed that she no longer needed tutored, which had happened just last week, Ruri's nights became later and later, until mornings seemed to simply disappear for her. She barely ever saw six in the morning, unless she was considering going to bed then. But, then again, this was not a normal day in Peace Castle. They were, as far as Ruri knew, were expecting guests.

It was hard to tell when they _weren't_ expecting guests. Just about every day had Peaceland citizens, tourists, distant relatives, and even some of Peaceland's obscure "nobility" were there, looking at the decor, speaking with the staff, if not Ruri's father or mother themselves, and inviting themselves to dinner. And from what Ruri could tell, her mother Gwynth loved it.

_Whatever_, Ruri thought to herself as the woman in question glared at her choice of clothing for this so-called important meeting. Ruri did her best to stay out of the heavy and uncomfortable dresses her mother deemed appropriate for a princess that was to inherit the kingdom. Ruri still believed that the land she knew she was to one day rule was a joke, and since it got so hot and sticky during the summer, she was able to get away with just wearing her old Nergal off-duty shirt and a pair of brown shorts, like she wore today. Unfortunately for her, Ruri's hair was growing rapidly, much faster than her body was, which made the heat of summer that much more unpleasant for her, especially since Peace Castle seemed to have bad ventilation, at best.

Ruri had no idea why she had to sit in at the meeting in one of Peace Castle's many meeting rooms, since both her mother and father were there as well. Did they want her to start taking charge and learn how to make the political decisions of a monarch? Or were they just prepared to bore the heck out of her? Ruri grumbled softly under her breath, toying with her silver hair. Her father had let Ariko go to Japan, and even stay until the next coming week. Why couldn't she have taken the opportunity to go as well?

"Ruri," Gwynth hissed as she rose from her seat. "Stand up." While Ruri was dressed in clothes that let her be cool and comfortable, the Queen of Peaceland wore a light, but long gray dress, her own silver hair trailing down her back without ornaments. Ruri at least had had the sense to put hers up in her signature ponytails. Ruri sighed heavily and pulled herself up to her short height.

In the past week, once Ruri learned the tutors were only there to keep her busy, Ruri had done what she could to not think. She often was found sitting about and watching television. She wouldn't even play games with Omoikane. Ruri couldn't play games with him, not after she had to fight with herself to not care more for her best friend than was necessary. She couldn't bring herself to do much else, especially since Yurika was killed. She had resorted to watching television so she wouldn't have to think about how things were just a month prior, so she wouldn't burst out in tears, so she wouldn't think about how she couldn't fall in love with the one person she loved most.

The double doors leading into the meeting room opened, and Ruri's father walked to them to greet and shake the hand of the incredibly short man with very long hair, hair that was obviously only dyed dark blue, as his roots and eyebrows showed that his hair was naturally bright red. He wore exactly what many Jupiterian men wore, the stiff shirts with the high collars and pressed slacks, but his were almost too big for his thin, small frame, practically hanging off his body. Also, unlike the ones Ruri saw that Shiratori-san and Tsukiomi-san had worn, this man's shirt was violet, while his pants were gray.

In the end, it was the box-like hat on his head that told Ruri who he was. The hat was specifically reminiscent of Rumiko's, only much more gaudily colored, with the same violet and gray as his clothes with slight etchings of orange and green in the trim. Ruri's amber eyes widened a little bit as her sleepy vision swam. This man was Emperor Ogawa Taiki, the ruler of the Holy Jupiterian Empire.

"Thank you so much for coming, your Excellency," Fredrick said as he led Emperor Ogawa to one of the seats at the table Gwynth and Ruri were previously seated at.

"Of course, your Majesty. It's not like you called this meeting, but I couldn't say no to the emperor of Ninlan, now, could I?"

_Ninlan? Emperor Adagio organized this thing?_ Ruri had little time to think more on this, as Emperor Ogawa was only the first. Next was the top United Earth representative, Admiral Kurt Whitesides, who was often considered to be the most powerful man on Earth. A series of police chiefs also entered, and though Ruri couldn't possibly remember their names, she could remember clearly their faces from news reports from around the system.

Every finally took their seats as Rumiko, dressed in what Ruri knew was his formal, almost self-important, Pentakami robes, and Megumi, dressed simply in a long-sleeve black blouse with a short black skirt. Gwynth narrowed her eyes at the entrance of the man she considered the ruler of the Jumpers, but Ruri ignored her. She wouldn't dare throw out slurs against jumpers while the Jupiterian emperor was there.

Emperor Ogawa stood up and first greeted Megumi. "My lady, it's a pleasure to finally meet you in person." He took her hand and kissed it, looking a bit surprised to not see a nanocontroller there. He then turned to Rumiko, shaking hands warmly with the much younger man. "Emperor Adagio, I cannot begin to tell you how much my empire owes to you and your own empire."

"With all due respect, Emperor Ogawa," Rumiko said as he retracted his hands from the Jupiterian's clasped ones, "this is not about any one of us, as I'm sure you've figured out." Emperor Ogawa seemed to sneer softly before taking his seat. Megumi dropped her rather large purse onto the table near the head. Rumiko glanced over the faces of those gathered in the room. "If we may drop the pleasantries? We have a lot to cover this morning and I'd like us to be able to have time for lunch afterwards."

"Well, if we're going to abandon policy to get to exactly why we're all here, perhaps you can tell us who you are to demand that all of these respectable people from around the system were compelled to join us in Peaceland?" Gwynth said curtly, twirling a lock of her silver hair innocently around a finger.

Rumiko blushed softly, but Ruri recognized the flame in his amber eyes, eyes that were so similar to her own, but still so different. Megumi took the helm, obviously worried about what wars Rumiko could start by insulting the wrong person in his outburst. "Your Majesty, I'm sure all of us here are aware at how hard, since the former Emperor Entrada's murder, Rumiko and I have worked to find these so-called 'Jumper Murderers.' With the exception of yourself, each of the nations represented here have lost a citizen to these ruthless killers."

Admiral Whitesides coughed politely, covering his dark mouth with a gloved fist. "Actually, your Excellency, considering that the former Captain Misumaru Yurika was a citizen of Earth, Earth has so far lost two of her own."

Emperor Ogawa glared at the representative. "My dear Admiral," he began, his voice coated in venom, "you know just as well as I do that Misumaru was as Martian as I am Jupiterian."

The admiral returned his glare. "Ah, yes, but you'll recall that the Treaty of Mars granted Earth exactly half of the planet of Mars, specifically the half that Misumaru was born on, thus making her an Earth citizen."

"Now, now," Fredrick interrupted, standing up from his seat at the head of the table. "Let's remember, this is a time for peace, and you're in neutral territory. Let's not sacrifice that for a few undue insults."

Megumi smiled at the King of Peaceland. "Thank you, your Majesty." She set her gaze on everyone else. "This meeting was not called to poke at old sores. Each of us here has lost someone, someone we may, for all we know, have felt was a friend. Emperor Ogawa, was Kusakabe Haruki not your own closest advisor? Admiral Whitesides, was Yurika not one of the best ship captains Earth ever had? Was Aqua Crimson not one of the main heads of the Earth economic world? Rumiko and I both know what it means, now, to lose someone who was very close to us. It was that loss that led to our involvement in the investigation."

"Could we please cut to the chase, your Excellency?" asked one of the police chiefs seated at the table, a menacing, almost bloodthirsty seeming woman with curly blonde hair. "I'm sure most of us are well aware of how much you and your husband have meddled." Some of her fellow officers chuckled, but she did not crack a smile, merely keeping her small hands folded and her wide, sapphire eyes on the Empress of Ninlan.

"Might I remind you, Officer Rootsinger, to whom that you speak?" Rumiko growled low. Apparently, the woman who spoke up was one of Rumiko's own.

"Rumiko," Megumi interrupted, looking at him in a way that told him something. Ruri couldn't figure out what, but she was sure it had something to do with the fact that Megumi was a better public speaker. Megumi turned back to the rest of them and sighed, pulling out a large folder from her purse. She opened it, but did not look at the contents inside. "Rumiko and I have been able to come to several conclusions regarding the murders, most of which have to do with the victims, more than the actual murderers themselves. We've ruled out those that are simply coincidence, but kept in as many considerations as we could."

"Your Excellency," spoke up Fredrick, "I don't think I understand. Was this meeting called simply to swap and share information about these disastrous acts of violence?"

Megumi laughed coldly. "Certainly not, your Majesty. No. You see, it was because of Rumiko's and my extensive work on the subject that led us to the conclusion that none of us were prepared to accept, but seemed the most logical." Her face fell slightly, as if she was dreading her next words. "The only way to catch those involved in these killings is to catch them in the act."

"You're kidding me. You've got to be kidding, your Excellency," said another of the police chiefs, a middle-aged man that seemed a bit scary, bit also very dedicated to his job. "I mean... we never know when, or who, they're going to strike. How can we possibly set up a trap like that?"

"Fortunately for you, Officer Mintk, Rumiko and I have already figured that out." Megumi sat down, finally, and spun her folder around, pushing it to the center of the table for anyone's review. "Rumiko and I have come to the conclusion that the key here is not attempting to guess who the killers are, but rather who the next victim is. And since they've left us plenty of clues as to who they look for, we think we can, with of course," she said with a nod to Fredrick and Gwynth, "the help of your Majesties."

"What does Peaceland have to do with the murders?" Gwynth gasped, holding a hand to her chest.

Megumi did not seem to consider her question important enough to answer. "Some things have all been similar between those that were killed, other than how they were killed. For instance... all of them are considered rather famous people. Or... all of them were directly connectable to Yurika. They all had some contact with the Nadesico, or the Nadesico's crew. But it was in their differences that we were able to find what we think is the killers' pattern." Megumi paused, glancing at each of them, as if asking them to ask her to elaborate. When no one did, she did on her own. "Each of them was born in different places."

Emperor Ogawa laughed loudly. "Oh, is that all? Well then, quick! Better start watching the Lunarians, or the Earthling colonists for unexplainable deaths! Meanwhile, everyone else is safe. My dear Empress Adagio, that doesn't narrow it down much."

Megumi just smiled in response. "You'd be surprised." She ran a hand through her rather messy-looking purple hair. "There is also a distinct chain between each death. To tell the short end, it appears that each person that is suspected as one of the killers is soon killed themselves."

There was a distinct silence before the blonde Officer Rootsinger spoke up again. "You're saying that, if we can find someone that will concede to being accused of murder for the exact intent of using them as bait for this trap, we'd have them?"

"Not exactly. They must be believable, which means they must fit all of the other criteria as well."

Admiral Whitesides crossed his arms in front of him, leaning back in his wooden chair. "Then all we have to do is send Dr. Fressange home, and watch to see if anyone comes to kill her. She fits the criteria fairly well, and she's already a suspect in this case, isn't she?"

Rumiko and Megumi looked at each other before Rumiko joined his wife at the table. "We cannot use Lady Ai."

"And why not?"

Megumi frowned. "As much as we'd hate to admit it... We're not sure if she _isn't_ one of the killers."

Emperor Ogawa shrugged. "Well, that's easy enough to figure out. If she isn't killed, then obviously she was involved."

"It doesn't work that way, your Excellency," said a young Jupiterian officer, a girl with rather stringy red hair and large silver eyes. "We have no way of differentiating the killers not taking the bait from her being one of the killers. In the end, we could be sending an innocent person to prison."

"Right," added Officer Mintk, "and how long would we wait? A few weeks? A month? Two? How long until we can consider that they just aren't coming for her, or that she's one of the killers?"

Megumi nodded quickly. "We've thought about all of that. We've taken all of that into consideration. That's why Rumiko and I suggest that we use someone we know for a fact was not involved." She frowned, and looked away, refusing to look in Ruri's direction.

Ruri was no fool. She knew what that meant. Megumi and Rumiko had considered her to be the bait in this trap. Suddenly, she felt as if she could have a purpose, something that would keep her occupied and her mind off of the things in her life that were changing so drastically. She had to be the bait. She _had_ to. Not just to help catch those who had killed the woman who was almost a second mother. Not just to help Yurika see justice. But for her own sanity.

"And who would you suggest?" Admiral Whitesides asked the question on everyone's minds.

Megumi bit her lip, but said no more. It was up to Rumiko then, who stood from his seat and cleared his throat. "We were, in fact, considering asking Princess Notsumote--"

Rumiko didn't have the chance to finish saying Ruri's full name before Gwynth stood up sharply, her chair hitting the floor behind her. "I don't care whether this is a joke or not. But my daughter is not going to be the bait to catch some killers that have absolutely nothing to do with Peaceland."

"Mother," Ruri began, standing up herself, only slowly, much more calculating as her mind thought as fast as it could. "They are asking me. Not you. And for your information, the killers have a lot to do with me. Or have you forgotten that Yurika was my captain?"

"Ruri, you will silence yourself. You are under our care and are to be Peaceland's next ruler. Do want something as dire as this in the minds of those you will have power over?"

"If that's the case, Mother, I don't see why you should care!"

"Gwynth, Ruri, please..." Fredrick pleaded, but to no avail. Instead, it was a voice from the door that called the queen's and the Princess's attention away from their fight.

"Your Majesty, I'm afraid you don't have much choice in the matter." All heads turned to the door, where no one had been looking for some time. There stood Erina, her hair trailing a little down the back of her brown business jacket and her arms crossed across her black blouse. Megumi and Rumiko looked hard at each other, and Ruri was sure neither of them, who had actually called the meeting, knew that the head of Nergal was going to join them.

Erina walked to the table and pulled the pink handkerchief off her neck where it was tied, dabbing her brow with it. "Damn this European heat, eh, Megumi, darling?" Megumi clenched her lips together, but said nothing.

Fredrick was the first of Ruri's parents to speak up. "Hello, Miss Won. I wasn't aware you were coming as well."

Erina shrugged. "Just came to crash the party. Especially when I discovered that dear little Ruri would be the topic of the hour." Erina glanced at the silver-haired Electronic Fairy with a knowing smile on her painted lips. "Ruri, your shirt is showing a bit of wear. If you a new one, you could just ask."

Ruri really, really didn't like Erina. That was, perhaps, one of the only things she had in common with her mother. "What exactly do you mean, Miss Won, that I do not have a say in the matter regarding my own daughter?" Gwynth asked, tight-lipped.

Erina rolled her dark eyes. "What is the date today?"

Gwynth sat down slowly as recognition washed over her. "No... No, Miss Won, she's ours!"

"Not until tomorrow, she isn't."

Ruri realized what Erina and her mother meant. That day was July 19. On July 20, Ruri's custody would be handed from Nergal to the Peaceland monarchy.

Gwynth really _didn't_ have a say. Not until tomorrow.

Erina turned to Rumiko and Megumi. "How fortunate for you that you timed this so well! I'll certainly allow Ruri to become the bait for your trap, as long as she wants to. I'll sign the papers, if need be."

Ruri then realized, as they all turned to look at her, that the ball was in her court. Swallowing, she nodded quickly. "Yes. I'd... I'd like to help, if it will catch the people who killed the woman I looked to as a mother." Ruri didn't care if it hurt Gwynth to hear her say that. Gwynth had certainly hurt her enough the past six months, and would probably not stop hurting her once she had custody over her.

"Good," Erina said with a smile, "then it's settled. Ruri will be the bait for the killers. I'm sure there is a plan to help get the word out so those involved will be able hear about how Ruri is to be suspected of murder?"

Rumiko nodded his head, but said nothing. Erina turned on her heel before leaving.

Megumi stood up and reached over the table, closing the folder, but not taking it. "The plans for the trap are all laid out. If they're followed, Ruri won't be hurt. I suggest... handing this over to the authorities, so that they can take the appropriate measures and precautions in the plan." She seemed on the brink of tears before she too left in a hurry, her husband following after her.

Gwynth cupped her face with her hands and sobbed. Fredrick rubbed his wife's back softly, but did not speak to her. "Ariko will stay with Uribatake-san in Japan until this blows over. The rest of your brothers... We'll send them with Alfred to Scandinavia. They'll be safe there."

"Father..." Ruri had not considered her father's feelings about this, and now felt as if she should have.

"No, Ruri, don't apologize. You're right. Captain Misumaru and Tenkawa-san... they were able to be there and guide you while we weren't. It's wrong of us to expect you to just accept us and our authority. And... You've had to grieve, and we haven't understood that. I'm sorry, Ruri."

"This will help," Ruri whispered feebly. What was the point of her saying that? It didn't matter, did it?

"Yes, I think it will." Now, if only Ruri could believe her father's words.

---


	33. Chapter 33

"A second arrest has finally been made in the so-called 'Jumper Murders', finally completing the pair system leaders and law enforcement officials have said are at fault for the violent deaths of various prominent figureheads in government, religion, military, and commercial ventures."

"Late this morning, Princess Notsumote Hoshino Ruri of Peaceland was placed under house arrest by the Empire of Ninlan, the Holy Jupiterian Empire, the System Alliance, and the Peaceland police commissioner Chile Vibbard for the murder of Jupiterian Vice Admiral Kusakabe Haruki, Crimson Industries CEO Aqua Crimson, imperial advisor and former Ninlandish emperor Mythos Entrada, and former Nadesico captain Misumaru Yurika. Good evening, I'm Anastasia Ball."

"And I'm Andy Suarez. While the already captured and detained Inez Fressange has not given heads or tails to the situation, having been arrested July eighth based on information brought forth by an anonymous caller, those working to finally solve this case were able to put the details together to come to this final conclusion on their own. We bring you live team coverage from both Peaceland, and Hiratsuka with all the details on this surprising development."

"We go first to Drew Evans outside Peace Castle where it is said that the princess is to be under constant surveillance until a court date can be finalized. Drew?"

"Thanks, Andy. Yes, as you can see behind me, the brightly painted and joyfully built Peace Castle is where Princess Notsumote will be residing without privacy until she can be extradited to Tokyo, Japan, as that is location of the final murder in this horrific string.

"System officials, including politicians, Nergal CEO Erina Kinjo Won, and various chiefs of police were gathered here before the king and queen of this neutral country to lay down the law and arrest the princess. The princess surrendered to officers peacefully, but, like her supposed accomplice Dr. Fressange, has not given a statement as to whether she is truly involved or not."

"Drew, we know you've been following this case since it began. Does this look like it could have been the work of a fourteen-year-old girl?"

"Normally, we would consider that these acts of violence are far too heinous to be the acts of a young girl such as the Peaceland princess, but if we consider the girl's actions against her former employer Nergal Heavy Industries back in February, where she attempted to hack into their computer systems, we can tell that the princess is not just any other girl."

"One more question, Drew. You said that it is assumed that Princess Notsumote and Dr. Fressange have been working together?"

"Yes, Anastasia, that is one of the reasons why this arrest is such big news, even though Dr. Fressange has already been detained. From the start, authorities have concluded that it was nearly impossible for just one person to be able to pull off the attacks, even with the Jumping factor added in. Princess Notsumote working with Dr. Fressange is plausible in the eyes of the authorities because Dr. Fressange was the princess's Pentakami arts teacher during the Nadesico's stay on Ninlan."

"All right, thanks, Drew."

"She's the princess of Peaceland and heir to the throne. She's got an honorary Doctorate in Computer Science, and she's only fourteen years old and accused of murder. We go now to Cordell Strong in Hiratsuka, Japan, in front of the headquarters of Nergal Heavy Industries. Cordell?"

"Thank you, Andy. She's the oldest of eight children, but before Miss Hoshino was a princess, she was a project, and property of Nergal Heavy Industries. And, although she has been living with her biological family, the monarchy of Peaceland, she is still in their custody for one more day.

"When Miss Hoshino was four, her custody was purchased by Nergal Heavy Industries from La Homaro Instituto, a state-of-the-art private school in Scandinavia for the purpose of adopting the girl once she had completed the education offered at the school. When she was five, Miss Hoshino was transported from Scandinavia to Japan, where she was placed in the care of two Nergal scientists, Hoshino Fumiko and his wife Mari. These adoptive parents were charged with the responsibility of teaching the young girl the workings of the new Asuka computer, the SVC-2027. This computer would ultimately be the computer placed into the Nadesico."

"It wasn't as if they knew the war was going to happen; it was more that they were interested in having someone on hand to work the computer."

"Hoshino Mari cared for the girl for six years, until which time Nergal paid the couple handsomely for Princess Notsumote's custody and services for the Nadesico."

"Our relationship was nothing more than business. Ruri had a mother and father that she already cared for, and while we tried to make sure we gave Ruri a healthy environment for a little girl to grow up in, she was always very distant, but also very focused on the task at hand. It was as if she knew what her task was and that she was, in fact, very different from other children."

"Nergal Heavy Industries has not released a statement about Princess Notsumote's involvement in the murders, at least, not to the extent that they have brought forth information regarding Dr. Fressange, who was also raised by the company. But whether this is meant to condemn the princess or not cannot be told at this time."

"Cordell, a quick question. We understand that the younger Peaceland princes have been sent to distant relatives around Europe and even in Japan while the king, queen, and princess all stay at Peace Castle. Is there any reason why Princess Notsumote is to stay there rather than be held in a detention center or a juvenile prison?"

"Actually, Anastasia, that was the request of Nergal, and I'm glad you asked that. Erina Kinjo Won was present at the time of Princess Notsumote's arrest, and requested that the princess be kept in her own home under house arrest rather than be detained elsewhere before she is extradited back to Tokyo. She said it was because she felt that the princess's knowledge of Nergal's inner workings along with her Jumper status would put the girl in jeopardy and requested it with only one day of authority over the girl."

"Okay, Cordell, thank you. There will be more details on this story at eleven."

"In other news: personal distortion field generators. Are they protection for the masses, or weapons for the criminally intent? We'll have more after the weather."

---

Gai was the first to reach the TV remote and turn it off. Akito was far too busy leaning forward and holding his forehead with his hands. The rest of the parlor was silent in shock at what the news had just reported to them. Hikaru patted a hand on Jun's back, but the oldest of them said nothing and seemed more interested in staring into the leaves of the small bonsai tree on the coffee table. For that reason, Izumi clenched her right hand into a fist, ready to douse the tree if Jun decided that it wasn't a worthy decoration and deserved to die.

"Well, I think that's bullshit," Ryoko proclaimed, breaking the silence as she continued to lean over one of the gray-blue loveseats, the one where Itsuki was seated and Gai was previously seated.

"Of course it's bullshit," Akito said, not lifting his head. "Ruri would never, ever do something like that."

"Are you sure?" The words were out of Izumi's mouth before she could stop them, but she did not regret them, even as Akito lifted his head to glare at her, even as every turned to her with shock marring their faces for the second time that evening.

"Of course I'm fucking sure, Izumi. How could you even believe that shit? Ruri is a little girl. She was on the Nadesico. Hell, she stayed here for a while! Ruri did not kill Yurika!"

"Akito!" Hikaru hissed. Once the redhead has his attention, she nodded her head in Jun's direction. The message was clear: shut up or we may have a bonfire on our hands.

"How can you be so sure? Believe it or not, but six months is a long time. Ruri has changed since the Nadesico. I noticed it when she was here. She does not have a problem with questioning authority. Why else did she run off and hide out here to get away from her mother? I don't know about murder, but Ruri does seem to not be on the right track."

"Oh, and I suppose you'd didn't question your mother's authority when you were Ruri's age?"

"I did. You're right. I fell in love with a man quite a few years my senior and accepted his proposal to marriage, along with an early trip into his marriage bed. I was called a slut all over our colony, even after he died. Ruri hacked Nergal. While my actions were probably worse for me than hers were for her, her actions are being used to judge her. How can you say that Ruri is not capable of major crimes? We all are. But Ruri is the one who has been fueled constantly for six months. How can you say that she couldn't possibly break under pressure and begin to do something stupid?"

"Izumi," Hikaru interrupted, "they said Ruri was working with Inez. To... kill people." Her eyes narrowed, not in anger, but instead in scrutiny. "Do you know something, Izumi?"

"No," Izumi said quickly, almost too quickly. She exhaled, then repeated, "No. I don't. I just... With Inez being one of the chief suspects, and someone we knew personally and well, Yurika, being one of the victims, I've realized that only ruin can come from trusting everyone blindly. Perhaps that's a lesson you all have to learn." Izumi stood from her seat on the other loveseat, grasped her glass of pineapple juice as she passed the coffee table, and quickly left the parlor before they all decided that with her own opinion was no longer acceptable among them.

Everything Izumi had said was the truth, or at least the truth as she saw it. She didn't immediately discount the report the System News had given like most of her housemates. And, unfortunately, she felt that they might just be doing so because of Nadesico loyalty. Oh sure, part of it might be that they all liked Ruri very much. Ruri was a lovable person, to be sure. She had most of the crew wrapped around her finger. But most of them had this tendency to take the side of the Nadesico, even if it was just the side of one person from the Nadesico. Izumi suspected it had something to do with how they had all defied Earth, Jupiter, and even Nergal at the end of the Lizard War and instead just flew their own flag. Mutiny could, of course, strengthen the bonds of those involved.

She closed her bedroom door behind her and headed straight under the arch into her own personal television-sitting room, just off her own bedroom. Izumi didn't blame them, really. She loved them all, even though Itsuki and Hikaru had their little fight just the other day. She would back them up just as they were backing Ruri up. And, had it not been for Ruri's actions against Nergal back in February in the first place, Izumi might have felt like she should join the camp that did not believe the news reports. But she also had something that the others didn't: a significant other not only suspected of murder, but currently behind bars for it.

Izumi was at first distraught at the idea. Inez? Her Inez? The woman who was unbelievably sweet in romance, fantastically generous in bed, and intellectually stimulating in conversation? Izumi loved her. How could she have possibly killed Yurika, the very woman who was their captain in the Lizard war, the girl who shared a bedroom with Hikaru and a bed with Jun during her stay at Yamada Manor? It was impossible. But Inez would not say either way if she had killed her and the others or not. Instead, she spoke in riddles, almost as readily as Izumi spoke in puns. Izumi knew what it was to talk circles around those around you so that they wouldn't listen. People don't try to see beyond appearances. They don't try to hear what is said behind the words. Izumi was blessed to have found Hikaru, who would and could read between the lines as such. After all, it took one to know one.

And that was how Izumi knew that Inez had done all but say she was guilty. Izumi had to, quickly, quietly, and privately, come to terms with the fact that she was in love with a murderer. And she did. Yet, she could not hate her. She could not be upset with her because she killed Yurika and all the others. She couldn't cut her out of her life completely. All she felt was anger at not being told the absolute truth: that Inez killed them all. Izumi felt that Inez owed her at least that much. But until that happened, Izumi could not trust her. How could you trust someone that hid the truth from you, even if it was for your safety, or their own?

Maybe that was what it call came down to. Izumi couldn't bring herself to trust anymore. Far too many times she had been hurt or abandoned, by lovers and friends, all people who she once trusted and had that thrown in her face. Hikaru abandoned her in her time of need to help Jun. It was a selfish thought, but Hikaru had also somehow found time to make Itsuki hate her. Ken abandoned her in death, as had Rinji. Inez had abandoned her to fulfill the violent thoughts Izumi knew the woman had, being a mad scientist in all but name.

Perhaps Izumi was committing the same crime by abandoning her trust in the others, and Ruri.

Izumi shook her head slightly as she reached over to the end table near her chair for the TV remote. She flipped the TV on, but simply flipped channels. She didn't know what she wanted to watch. She passed cooking and do-it-yourself shows before she landed on some episode of an obvious soap opera. She smiled and pulled her legs up underneath her. As the people in the TV were living out their dramas, did they watch the real people live out theirs?

---

It had been a day and a half and there was still nothing.

Of course, while news traveled fast with the media, it was easy to understand how those involved might have wanted to sit down and plan their next moves, particularly since it was reported that Ruri was under constant surveillance. That could cause a problem to those who would make an attempt on her life, even if they were Teleporters, but it was a necessary detail to make Ruri's "arrest" seem all the more authentic. Then again, even if they were hiding in plain sight, the news might not have reached them. Perhaps they were in transit, or resting.

_Right, or perhaps they live under rocks_, Rumiko thought to himself as he flipped through the news channels on the television. While Ninlan did not quite have the visual entertainment industry integrated into their culture quite yet, it was something they were working on. Rumiko knew that it could be a convenient way to reach all of his people, though they would not be able to communicate back. Megan had explained the concept to him and, while at first he was against the idea of something as unhealthy on the mind being brought to his rather young empire, even he could admit that it was a fantastic tool of information. After all, every news station in the system had the same headlines: Princess Notsumote Hoshino Ruri of Peaceland was under house arrest for the murder of various political, commercial, and military figures. It was a work of art. Even Rumiko had to admit that Megan's grand plan to catch the killers was pure genius.

Now if only they would have struck by now, then Rumiko's mind could be clear.

"Damn it, Rumiko, turn that off and practice the speech!" Megan grumbled at him as she emerged from their latest hotel's bathroom, a large white towel wrapped around her petite body as she dried off her purple locks with another. Rumiko could feel the pale skin of his face flush at the sight of his wife clad in naught but a towel and her wedding necklace. His eyes trailed over her slim shoulders and down her legs. He unconsciously sucked his bottom lip into his mouth as he saw himself sucking and licking the water beads off the skin that was exposed to him now, and the skin that wasn't.

"...Rumiko?" Megan's bell-like voice brought him back to reality and out of the fantasy he would never share. He always made himself appear to be cold and unfeeling and perhaps even a bit of a prick, but the truth was that he loved his wife, had married her to share his empire and life with her, and thought she was very, very attractive, from her small stature to her freckles across her nose.

"Yes?"

Megan rolled her eyes, then gestured with one hand that Rumiko turn around. He did so and closed his eyes as well. Clearly she was in no mood and his seeing her in the nude would only push the issue. After several moments of sounds of clothes sliding on skin and zippers being pulled up, she spoke again, "Okay, I'm done." Rumiko looked back and sighed. She hadn't dressed her part as empress, but instead chose to dress for the weather. After all, even Rumiko had to admit that it was hotter than Flamma's heart in New York. That didn't mean he was going to dress for it.

"I still don't see why I have to practice the speech. I'm going to have it in front of me."

"And they're going to have teleprompters, yes. But I can't give this speech for you. As emperor, you should at least give the induction speech; I can do all the others after we have been inducted officially."

"I know. I know all of that, Megan. But I'm just going to be reading."

"You should at least know it. Not word-for-word. I'm not asking you to memorize it. I'm asking you to know it. So you can look up and meet some of their eyes and continue to speak without looking."

"In other words, memorize it."

"No. Rumiko, if I wanted you to memorize it, I would have given it to you earlier. The ceremony is--"

"Tomorrow. Yes. I know. But you didn't even have it written earlier, so I fail to see how that would have been possible."

"Oh, you know what I mean!" Megan sat down bodily on the far bed, then lay down, stretching her arms above her head. "I know what I'm talking about, and you know that I do. I was a voice actress, for the Gods' sakes. Why can't you just trust me?"

"I do trust you," Rumiko didn't even think about saying it; he just said it. He knew he felt it, and he knew it was true.

"But do you trust my judgment?"

"Yes." Rumiko sighed. "I am not in an appropriate mood to practice kissing the buttocks of every person heading a nation in the System Alliance for allowing us to join a peaceful coalition, as if it is some expensive and exclusive club of some sort."

Megan sat up and frowned, propping herself up on her arms. Normally, she would have chuckled at Rumiko's extravagant insult, especially of those that made up the, she agreed, uptight System Alliance. The fact that she didn't made Rumiko glance over in her direction. "This induction is important, Rumiko."

"I know."

"Then why do you want undermine it, Rumiko? You know what this can mean for Jumpers, for followers of the Pentakami, and for Ninlan's own lack of technology. I know you love your empire; why won't you try?"

"Megan, they've already decided to induct us. What I say doesn't make a difference."

"It most certainly does. What, do you think they're just going to bar the media from the event? What you say and how you say it tomorrow can sway the system's view of Ninlan, the Pentakami, and Jumpers everywhere."

"Oh really?" Rumiko said, raising an eyebrow. He lifted the remote and pointed it at the TV, gesturing and not pushing any buttons. He had been reading the captions while he kept the news muted. An older woman with graying hair swept across the shoulders of her black suit jacket was speaking, clearly in English, but no words came out. Instead, her words appeared below her, and just above tickers that detailed "facts" about Ruri's arrest. Rumiko looked at his wife out of the corner of his eye. "Tell me, Megan: if the media is so powerful, how come we have no results out of our plan after a day and a half?"

Megan stood and walked over to the TV, which was closer to the bed Rumiko was perched on than the one she was sitting on. She took the remote from his hand and unmuted the TV, listening to the aging woman's voice as she talked to, of all people, Erina.

"I personally wouldn't put it past the two of them. Both Dr. Fressange and Princess Notsumote have been raised by Nergal, but neither had a problem in defying us during the Lizard War while on our own ship, the Nadesico. It would not surprise me if they carried their dislike of authority with them from the war and applied it to their daily lives, resulting in this."

"Are you concerned with how these incidents will change the way the public looks at Nergal?"

"Not particularly. We already have a great deal of bad press to clean up after the Lizard War, particularly after the revelations of the Jupiterians and the use of magic on Ninlan. But what the public doesn't seem to realize is that, while both Dr. Fressange and Princess Notsumote are both considered to be 'Nergal's Children', along with Makibi Hari and Lapis Lazuli, they have also been influenced by outside forces such as the military, the other crew members of the Nadesico, and in Princess Notsumote's case, her own biological family."

Megan sighed and remuted the TV. "These things take time," she said simply, as if both answering Rumiko's question and helping Erina explain her stance at once.

"How much time, Megan?"

"Look, Rumiko. I want them to catch them just as quickly as you do. But the plan has to take time."

"Megan, if it takes too much time--"

"Ruri didn't kill Yurika!" Megan shouted, throwing the remote on the bed.

"I'm not saying that." Rumiko paused a moment to let her calm herself, if only a bit. "Believe it or not, but I too am worried about the princess. If it takes to much time, then those we set to defend and protect her may grow complacent. They may stop caring, and not pay attention. The plan will fail, Megan, if it takes too long."

"You think I don't know that?" Megan crossed her arms. "No, it has to work. The plan will work."

"How can you be so sure?" Rumiko hated the fear and uncertainty in his voice. He was always so sure of himself, so confident. What had become of him that he was afraid, especially over another person?

Megan smiled at him, but it was a humorless smile that didn't come close to reaching her blue eyes. "Because I came up with the plan. And I trust my judgment. Don't you?"

_Yes. No._ "I don't know."

Megan shook her head. "Come on, Rumiko. Let's start practicing that speech."

---

Ayame was, of course, the last to arrive at Yukina's house. She had taken the train from her grandfather's place to Yukina's neighborhood, then subsequently gotten lost. She had been to the Jupiterian's domicile before, she had just forgotten where it was, and lugging around a duffel full of her bathroom supplies, clothes, and various items of entertainment like cards, movies, and books was no picnic either. Eventually, she had seen the tall and leggy figure of Haruka Minato, Yukina's would-be sister-in-law, in the street, waving her down. She had then run full tilt towards the woman, reaching her quickly. Ayame wasn't always a runner, but in becoming friends with Yukina, she found herself losing weight and gaining extensive muscle in her legs, as Yukina ran everywhere. After all, the girl was trying for the track team.

"They're both in Yukina's room. I'm making salad and bread for dinner tonight," was really all Minato had to say to the girl. Ayame sometimes wondered if Minato liked her, but Yukina said she did, so she had a choice: either trust her friend's judgment or worry. Lately, she had been choosing to trust her friend's judgment.

"Thank you, Miss Haruka. That sounds great." Ayame did not wait for an answer before heading straight for Yukina's room. She may not have been able to find the house, but she could easily find her friend's room inside the house. She found the door wide open with soft music playing; Yukina was sitting at her computer chair, not crossing her legs modestly to hide what was under her cherry-covered sundress, while a younger, paler boy with silver hair was settled on Yukina's blue-and-black comforter.

Yukina leapt out of her seat and met Ayame at the doorway, taking Ayame's duffel from her. "Ayame! I was afraid you weren't going to show."

Ayame smiled. "I had to come. I said I would, didn't I?"

Yukina nodded as she set Ayame's bag next to her desk. "Ayame, Ariko. Ariko, Ayame."

The boy called Ariko stood immediately and took Ayame's right hand, kissing her knuckles. "It's nice to meet you, Miss Ayame."

Ayame felt a slight blush crawl on her cheeks as she directed her eyes downward. She pulled her hand out of his grasp and bent her knees as she stretched out her brown skirt. "The pleasure is all mine, Your Highness."

"Oh, for the love of Magus."

Ariko smiled. "You can just call me Ariko, Miss Ayame."

Yukina flapped her arms in between them, quickly separating them as Ariko took that as a sign to move. "Okay, okay, we get it. No more formalities. Back to what I said, Ariko, Ayame. Ayame, Ariko." Yukina ran a hand through her short hair and gestured for Ayame to take a seat on the light purple bean bag chair. Once Ayame was seated, Yukina sat back down herself. "Did Minato say anything about what we're eating later?"

"Oh. Um, she said something about salad and homemade bread."

Yukina nodded, then looked at Ariko. "She probably heard something about your mother pushing this vegetarian thing."

Ariko sighed before collapsing unceremoniously on Yukina's bed. "Which sucks. Uribatake made us pork with fruit, Mexican salad, and pie yesterday. It was to die for. I haven't had meat in so long. I honestly don't know how Father does it."

"Magus, that sounds good. Yeah, Minato's been on this healthy food thing too, only she hasn't jumped into vegetarianism, thank my God of Spirit. Nothing against vegetarians but... I need my cow, if you catch my meaning."

Ayame smiled to herself, watching Ariko stretch out on Yukina's bed. She could hardly believe that this boy was, in fact, the First Prince of Peaceland and was, for a long time, the Crown Prince. He was so... normal. Sure, he was pale and had silver hair just like his Electronic Fairy sister, but he had blue eyes, liked meat, and felt at home in the blue jeans he wore. Not to mention that Ayame thought he was cute, if a bit young. _Oh well. He'll grow up eventually._ Ayame smiled at the thought. She looked at the carpet. She hadn't yet become interested in boys; why was she so attracted to Ariko, who was in fact two years younger than she?

Ayame looked at her best friend, her only friend in the world, Yukina. She was blossoming faster than Ayame, with her breasts beginning to form, her interest in her looks beginning to grow, and her overall attachment to Ariko beginning to, of all things, show. Ayame had never met the boy before, and Yukina talked about him all the time. How could she not realize that Yukina was very attached to the prince? Ayame knew about Ariko's mother. She would never allow for her son to be with a Jupiterian.

Ayame bit her lip. How could she be thinking this way? Yukina was her friend, and Ariko a new person she had just met. All of her talk of Yukina being a "Jupiterian" made her sound like her grandfather. She didn't want to be like him. She couldn't be like him.

"... just don't believe it at all. What do you think, Ayame?"

Ayame was jarred out of her thoughts violently. "Huh?"

Yukina regarded Ayame with narrowed eyes. "Ruri." Ruri? Ruri who?

Ayame closed her eyes as she remembered. Ruri. Hoshino Ruri, the first Electronic Fairy, the computer operator of the Nadesico, the healer. Princess Notsumote Hoshino Ruri of Peaceland, the Crown Princess of Peaceland. She was arrested just two days ago. "Oh my God, that's right," she said without thinking. "She's your sister!"

Ariko nodded, but said nothing, instead deciding to look away. Yukina nodded slowly, keeping her eyes narrowed. "I've told you that before, Ayame."

Ayame blushed yet again, and wondered how many more times that was to happen this evening. "Yeah, sorry. I must have forgotten."

Yukina watched her for a moment more before spinning her chair back around to face Ariko. "Like I said, I don't believe it for a second. Ruri wouldn't kill anyone, and certainly not the captain."

"Are you sure, though, Yukina? I've known her longer than you and if it's one thing she is, it's dedicated to her goals. I don't think anything could stand in her way if she wanted those people dead."

"So, what, Ariko? Are you saying you think Ruri is capable of multiple murders? Serial killing? Homicide?"

"I don't know. All I know is that one day, Miss Fressange is the number one suspect. The next, Rumiko, Megumi, and a whole slew of politicians and police officers swarm the palace, along with Miss Won, and Ruri's under house arrest and Father calls me to say that I'm to stay at Uribatake's until further notice. I don't even know where my brothers are, if my parents are staying at the castle... I don't know anything. Least of all why they would suspect Ruri of doing it. I mean, she loved the captain, right? She said that the captain was more like a mother to her than our mother ever would be. Why would she kill her?"

"The news said that she had hacked into Nergal in February," Ayame said softly, so softly she was sure no one would hear her. Unfortunately for her, she was wrong, and both Yukina and Ariko turned to her, staring incredulously at her. "I don't know, I guess they were trying to say that she has no problem committing crimes, or no problem going up against authority."

"Of course she was okay with being abrasive to authority! Who our age isn't? I know I play my music loud to piss off Minato and her stinky brother. Ariko, do you or do you not hang out with me, which drives your mother up the wall? Ayame, same thing, only with your grandpa instead of your mom? Ariko, didn't you say that Ruri fought with your mom constantly, whether it was over her being a Jumper, the way she liked to dress, her friendship with Omoikane, or just her tutoring?"

"Actually, Ruri isn't doing tutoring anymore."

"That's beside the point!"

"Yukina, the princess did hack Nergal's Headquarters. I remember the reports back in February. They didn't press charges, but she didn't deny it."

"She did do it. I remember."

"But it's just more of the same thing. Nergal practically _raised_ Ruri. It's just more of the same thing, I bet you."

All three fell silent. Ariko stared at Yukina's ceiling while Yukina picked at her toenails. Ayame laced her fingers, unlaced them, and then relaced them. She didn't know the princess. How could she have an opinion in this? There was nothing that Ayame could truly say. All she knew was what the media was saying, and Yukina was trying her best to prove them all wrong.

"What if they're wrong?" At first, Ayame had no idea where the question came from. Then she saw Yukina look over to her bed where Ariko still lay. "What if Ruri didn't do it?"

"I'd say it is pretty obvious that she didn't."

"Yukina, please." Ariko sighed. "What if they're wrong? Peaceland will never recover. Tourism will drop to all time lows. That's where our economy comes from. We could develop a deficit, go bankrupt. The citizens could protest, ask for Ruri to be exiled. God... Ruri just came back to our family. I love her like a sister. She _is_ my sister. I would have to leave too."

Yukina smiled. "You'd always have a place with us, Ariko. Or even Uribatake. He loves you too, you know, like his own son."

Ariko nodded, but his frown did not falter. Ayame stared at her own laced fingers. Exile? Depression? Ayame watched the news and had noticed the same patterns everyone else had. Those were the least of their problems. "Ariko, if they're wrong..."

"Don't say it. I know."

"Godsdammit!" Yukina cried, rising suddenly from her chair and grabbing a nearby teddy bear, tossing it across the room. Ayame covered her head with her hands, but the bear landed safely just outside the door. "I just feel so fucking helpless!"

Ariko crossed his arms under his head and did not look in Yukina's direction. "Now you know how I feel."

Ayame felt more than helpless. She felt out of place. She was not Nadesico crew. She was not a Jumper, nor was she a citizen or royalty of Peaceland. She had never even been to the European country in her life. She was simply Yukina's friend. That did not give her the correct standing to be able to do anything about this. She couldn't even form an opinion. She had never met the princess, so she had no idea how she behaved, how she acted, or anything. Ayame knew nothing of her. Perhaps she was capable of murder. Perhaps not. She was just Yukina's friend.

Perhaps that was all she was supposed to be.

---

The large hall that held the System Alliance members for such ceremonial purposes such as inductions and discussions had grown immensely since the days when it held merely the members of United Earth. Where once was only one set of seats that faced the speaker's extravagant podium, there were now three: one on the immediate right from the podium for Earth, one on the immediate left for Jupiter, and one in the center for Earth's space colonies, the Lunar colonies, the Mars colonies and camps (both Earthling and Jupiterian), and, after today's induction, a seat for the Empire of Ninlan. Each seat had a nameplate in front of it, stating the name of the representative and the part of the system they presided over. Most of the Earthling plates were of presidents, prime ministers, emperors, empresses, kings, queens, and chiefs, but many were also admirals for the United Forces. The Jupiterian plates were almost exclusively admirals and vice admirals, the exceptions being the emperor himself and various moon colony, space station, and asteroid colony governors. It was clear, by the existence of so many seats on both sides for military leaders, that while the treaty had been signed, there was still a great deal of animosity between Earth and the largest planet in the system. The center set had, remarkably, very few military officials seated within it; only the admirals from the Lunar bases, the rest accumulating to those that administered the colonies, both space- and Mars-based. Even though the new Satsuki Midori colony had not been assembled at Lagrange point 2, the governor for the colony was still seated right between the governor for Satsuki Midori One and Satsuki Midori Three. It was, in fact, the presence of Mars that overwhelmed that set of seats: governors, researchers, and Ninlandish magic teachers that served on the red planet all faced forward with their hands resting on the surface before them, yet none of them had the Martian blood running through them.

All of them faced the podium. The same podium that Rumiko was seated near with Megan. He was seated to the immediate left of the podium at a surface that sloped up into the main teleprompter area of the podium. He suspected this had nothing to do with Earth casting him in with the Jupiterians, or because every single Jupiterian had the ability to use magic and Teleport, but instead because Switzerland, the other nation to be inducted that afternoon, was a country on Earth that would inevitably sit with Earth.

Admiral Whitesides, who Rumiko had just seen two days prior, was standing at the podium. Because this hall was based on Earth, he would direct the ceremony, as he was the top United Earth representative. _Sad,_ Rumiko thought, _the state Earth must be in for its most powerful political figure to be someone in the military. It is like they are preparing for a second system war._

"Good afternoon. It is in this time of peace and harmony that we can all gather here without fear of animosity between us. It is in this time of safety and sanctuary that our citizens can visit each other and pass between our borders without fear. It is in this time that the stars have come to our reach and the entire system can unify and become as one in the universe. And it is in this time that we, the System Alliance, have deemed it fit to add two more nations to our number, Earth-based and formerly neutral nation Switzerland, and the Empire of Ninlan, the farthest planet in the system and the planet who gave our citizens with nanomachine endowments the ability to manipulate the world around them in new and strange ways." A great deal of smiles appeared on the Jupiterian side as many on the Earthling side shifted in their seats. "Our votes have already been cast and counted, and it is with great pleasure that I welcome both the President of Switzerland, Gunther Kailen, and the Emperor of Ninlan, Rumiko Adagio, to our number of those that wish to preserve peace and freedom in the universe." The applause that followed was generally uniform; those that were glad for Ninlan were not necessarily glad for Switzerland, and vice versa. But they all clapped and clapped just the same as Admiral Whitesides stepped away from the podium and gestured to the man seated to his right. President Kailen, a man with very large-framed glasses, brown hair that was almost long enough to be considered "long", and a brown suit with a silver tie, stood, grasping the folder before him on the table before shaking hands with Admiral Whitesides for the photographer. He placed his folder on the podium and began to read, occasionally looking up and towards the Earthling side mostly, but the Jupiterian side and the space-based center as well. It took Rumiko a moment to realize that he couldn't understand the man at all, but Megan had gestured that he place the earphones on his head as she had, even though it tousled a bit of her perfectly curled hair.

"--to all. Although my nation has showed itself to be willing to meddle, we have been officially neutral for nearly two centuries. We contributed no effort to aid the Earth in its battles against Jupiter, but this has left my nation with no voice in regards to the pressing concerns of today. We have been able to build no Boson Jump Shuttle Stations, no schools of magic, no way of defending ourselves against any attack that may come from the more formidable and technologically advanced system as a whole. Switzerland, my country and my home, would be helpless in today's world.

"Thankfully, it has been you, the System Alliance, who have seen how we can contribute to maintaining peace in the system. Our extended neutrality has allowed us the ability to forge friendships with many of Earth's previously warring nations, along with the empire of Jupiter and the various space colonies. We feel that, despite our time not acting in any of our recent battles and wars, we will be able to contribute much in regards to our economies in banking and international trading. We hope that our ability to converse peacefully with all of the nations of the System Alliance, and outside it, will become an inspiration for all of your representatives here. On behalf of my country, I thank you personally for considering and inducting Switzerland into this fine collection of system leaders."

Rumiko grimaced to himself as the hall erupted in applause, most of which was seated on the Earthling side, for two reasons. First, it was clear from President Kailen's speech that Switzerland was considered for one reason: to add one more nation to the Earthling side, tipping the balance of Earth's influence in the Alliance just that much more. After all, why else would the president of a formerly neutral country be practically groveling before the Alliance, even after they had already been accepted. He must have known this already; Rumiko had known why Ninlan was to be inducted long before the actual ceremony. Second, since President Kailen had finished, that meant that it was Rumiko's turn to speak before the hall.

As if punctuating this realization, Admiral Whitesides took the podium once more. "I do believe I speak for the Alliance when I say to President Kailen, thank you for your kind words and welcome to the hall." Applause followed until the admiral raised a gloved hand, signaling for the clapping to end. "Now I would like to call Emperor Rumiko Adagio of Ninlan up to say a few words." The applause was, once again, skewed, but this time to the left. After all, Jupiter had the most to gain from Ninlan's induction, as Ninlan was the planet that had introduced magic back into the modern world, giving the Jupiterians power that only a few on Earth had.

Rumiko removed his earphones and stood up, pushing his chair in as he glanced at Megan. She smiled at him with a pained, black-glossed smile. It was meant to be reassuring, but her face said exactly what his mind was chanting: Don't screw up. He cursed her logic that he should give their first speech to the Alliance. _From now on, Megan's doing this._

The hall was absolutely silent save for President Kailen's fiddling with his earphones in preparation for Rumiko's words, spoken in a language that President Kailen was not likely to understand. Rumiko placed his speech on the podium and grasped the sides with his hands, completely bare although he stood before many who would be not unhappy if he and his empire were to disappear right that second. He wasn't completely empty; he still contained some of Hikaru's magic, but it wasn't enough to protect himself if they attacked him now. It wasn't likely though, especially with the media here, and they would not know about what he was armed with and how much until he used it anyway. To go without gloves was more of a bluff, then, but he did not care. He was never ashamed to be what he was, a mage.

But damned if he could speak in front of a crowd.

He cleared his throat once before beginning. "Good afternoon to everyone. I would like to begin by thanking the System Alliance for granting my nation allowance to enter this fine collection of those dedicated to peace. In case you may not be aware, the reason Ninlan's induction was confirmed by the councilors here is because of our choices in regards to the rogue nation of Lennon. Ninlan, from its darkest days to its finest hours, has always been an empire based on the religion we alone had formed and followed for thousands of years: the Pentakami. While the exaltation of all of our Gods is a recent development for which we have the Nadesico to thank, it is our dedication to these Gods that led to Lennon's secession from the empire.

"On a Ninlan without contact with Earth, Jupiter, and the various associated colonies and stations, such an act against the empire would be considered a grave betrayal, rather than an action of liberty. My nation would have erupted in an embroiling civil war that could have lasted for Magus-knows-how-long. But instead, I made an intelligent woman my empress: an Earthling woman. This Earthling woman was among the first of the Earth-populace that came to discover that the 'Lizards' they had battled with were humans, and among the first to discover who these humans were and what their story was.

"My wife, Empress Megan Adagio of Ninlan, told me that to act against Lennon's wishes for independence would be to repeat the mistakes of the planet our own empire wanted to emulate: Earth. She told me the story of the War for Lunar Autonomy, the war that savagely destroyed many Lunarians that would eventually become the ancestors for the Jupiterians. Even if Lennon would no longer be considered part of the Empire of Ninlan, they were still citizens of the planet of Ninlan. And, taking that into account, I determined that to chase war for a request made by a smaller nation would be foolish and prove to be my empire's demise in the future.

"It was my empire's decision that enamored this council with the idea of inducting my nation. There is only so much we can offer to the system: the use and study of magic, the ability to determine who has used the art of Teleportation, and the design of the Teleportation shuttles. There is much that we can benefit from the system: your use of electricity, your transportation methods, and your pathways of communication, to name a few. But there is one thing the Alliance can guarantee that they will always have from Ninlan, and that one thing is peace.

"It is from this point forward that Ninlan dedicates itself to the proposal, promise, and provocation of peace into this new age of systematic harmony. Let us turn away from weapons and insults and instead turn to the wonder and innovation that our today requires to step into our tomorrow."

The applause that followed was slow and relatively unsure. Rumiko expected Earth to be timid, even malicious about its distribution of applause in Ninlan's direction, but he had expected Jupiter to be glad of Ninlan's induction, especially since Ninlan had much to offer to Jupiter. But as Rumiko glanced to both sides of the hall, he realized that the two planets did not just separate each other in terms of where they had hailed from, but also in sides of the war, the war that the Nadesico had ended the year before.

_To them, the war is still going on_, Rumiko realized as Admiral Whitesides took the podium and Rumiko went back to his seat beside Megan. She had written his speech, as always. The public words of the Emperor were really just the more polite words of the Empress. She had put a focus on Ninlan's dedication to peace, which was a true and solid concept for the empire. Ninlan, least of all, was prepared for a war against the more technologically-advanced nations of Earth and Jupiter, so it was in their best interests to keep a peaceful and agreeable face among the other nations. But it had suddenly occurred to Rumiko that the Treaty of Mars meant little to more than one side of the legendary Lizard War.

He didn't hear the words of the Earthling System Alliance head, but it did not appear as if Megan was too concerned either. She narrowed her blue eyes at him. "What's wrong?"

Rumiko shook his head, but did not to dispel her thoughts. "We may have more on our plate than a pair of murderers, Meg." He shook his head once more, not worrying about the state of his perennially unruly hair. "'Alliance', indeed."

---

Itsuki, arriving home from a lunch with a potential client, had quite the difficult time finding Ryoko. She had wanted to tell her all about what had happened that afternoon, but Ryoko wasn't in the gym, she wasn't seated at _any_ of the various pianos throughout the manor, she wasn't in the spa room, and she wasn't taking a nap. Hoping that she wouldn't have to go into Hikaru's room to find her girlfriend, she crossed the patio from the kitchen and entered the guest house without knocking. Jun was watching TV with a bit of a spooky stare that made Itsuki's back erupt in goose bumps. She glanced at the screen and discovered that they were talking about the sequence of Ruri's arrest, with news about the System Alliance Induction from that day trailing along the bottom ticker.

"Oh, Junny," she said, filling her voice with mirth so Jun would not suspect that she was not joking and instead being honestly worried about him, which she really was. "Didn't anyone tell you that TV wasn't good for you?"

Jun snorted, his face absent of any expression. "My mother, sure. But I'm a bit disinclined to listen to her advice."

Itsuki sighed. There was no working with this guy anymore. "You seen Ryoko around?"

"Gym."

"I tried there."

"Then she's taking a bubble bath."

Itsuki wrinkled her forehead at the concept of Jun knowing that Ryoko would be taking a bath at all, let alone if it was a bubbly one in nature, confused her. Just because they looked a bit alike and were stepsiblings didn't mean that they should know each other's bathing habits. "Thanks," she said low and softly and quickly left the guest house. Sure, she could understand the guy being upset about Yurika being killed. She could understand that he wouldn't heal for a long time. But she was under the impression that Hikaru was helping him.

Just at the thought of the awful, meddling, snoopy redhead made Itsuki's blood boil. She could hear hard notes playing disjointedly in the air she walked through and tried to calm herself down, if only to escape the dreadful noise that followed her because she birthed them. She climbed the eastern staircase as always to the second floor. She wasn't even sure how often the western staircase was used, if at all. The eastern was so much easier and Itsuki honestly believed that the western staircase was just for looks, because it was just a farther walk to get to anything upstairs from there.

Because it was Ryoko, there was one bathroom that Itsuki was sure she would be in. The hall bathroom was one of the few full bathrooms in the entire house that was not connected to a bedroom and was intended for use by guests who had stayed the night and could not wait for another bathroom to open up, as well as those that used the bedroom that Ryoko and Itsuki did, which did not have its own bathroom. Nevertheless, the hall bathroom was very large, even for one that wasn't used often, and really encompassed two rooms. The front room of the bathroom had the sinks and toilet and the shower, along with a few sparse decorations that Jiro's parents had deemed appropriate for a full bathroom more likely to be used by guests than residents. The next room, separated from the other by only an archway, had the actual bathtub, along with a lengthy sectional sofa. Itsuki never really knew why there was a sofa in what was essentially a room for bathing, but as she aged, she decided she didn't want to know. It was in this bathing room that Itsuki found her girlfriend.

Ryoko jumped a bit as Itsuki entered the second room in the hall bathroom, but visibly relaxed as she saw who it was. "Terra, Itsuki, don't you even knock or call out when you enter a room anymore?"

Itsuki smiled, showing her perfectly straight teeth. Even though she had risen a bit out of the water in her surprise, Itsuki could see no really good parts on her girlfriend's nude body, to her dismay. However, she did take a moment to admire the look of the white bubbles resting on Ryoko's flushed skin, as well as giggled softly to herself at the abysmal way Ryoko had tied up her two-colored hair. Ryoko was due for a haircut, and it would be with that cut that her hair would be totally black, all traces of the green gone, Itsuki suspected.

"Why should I have? I knew it was you in here. Who else uses this bathroom?"

Ryoko rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, turning away from Itsuki to face instead the bathtub wall. Itsuki pouted. That wasn't very nice.

"So what was so all fired important that you had to come in here during my attempts to relax my joints?"

"Couldn't you have just used the spa?"

"Well, considering that I knew you would be home soon, and upon finding me in the hot tub, would soon distract me from worrying about my joints and muscles, which so need to relax and have a chance to soak. That, and I needed some time alone."

It wasn't until later that Itsuki would realize that she had been impeding on Ryoko's "alone" time. "Well, since you were so kind to answer my question, I will answer yours. You'll never guess who I had lunch with today."

"Who?"

"Guess!"

Ryoko sighed, leaning her head back. "Um... Commander Tanaka."

"Nope! Tsukiomi Genichiro!"

Ryoko turned back to her, her blue eyes narrowed. "That Jovian asshole that shot Minato's fiancé during their so called 'peace talks' during the Lizard War?"

Itsuki clicked her tongue and waved a hand at her girlfriend. "Lizard War was terrible and the fact that he was manipulated into killing his best friend aside, Minato has forgiven him and he was having lunch with me to represent Ninlan. He's one of Rumiko's advisors and came in today with a Jump Shuttle at His Imperial Jackass's request. Apparently, despite his words about 'promoting peace' or whatever, Ninlan wants to get a crop of our new Aestivalis frame as soon as it's done!"

Ryoko rubbed her chin with a finger, glancing at it before doing so. "How do they intend to get them there?"

"I didn't say we got all the details worked out yet, but that is something we'll have to talk about." Itsuki plopped down onto the blue sofa and bounced once. "Isn't this exciting?"

"Perhaps." Ryoko stood up without embarrassment, reaching for a large, fluffy blue towel from the rack. Itsuki was able to do only one quick once-over of her bedmate before Ryoko was able to obscure her body as she walked back into the main bathroom, stepping into the shower to wash off the bubbles.

Itsuki rested on the sofa, laying her head down but propping it up on her elbow as she waited for Ryoko to emerge from the shower. She pouted as she thought. Why wasn't Ryoko excited? This would be a grand step for Mugendai in the system, especially after the end of the Lizard War had made their existence seemingly pointless in a peaceful world.

Ryoko's shower was short, and the tomboy quickly exited the stall and began to dry off once more. Itsuki's worries clouded her conscious mind, so she took no measures to trace her gaze over the form she already knew by heart. "Just 'perhaps'?" She asked, hoping her voice wouldn't start to crack as it did when she was not pleased.

Ryoko nodded, water dripping from the dark green ends of her wet hair. She reached over to her pile of fresh clothes and pulled on her white panties, and then her matching bra. "You're sure you're okay with letting Rumiko have first choice once we finish this thing?"

"Yes... why do you ask?"

"Well, you seemed pretty pissed off at him the other day."

"But he doesn't think I killed Yurika anymore, now, does he?"

Ryoko flared out her nostrils as she pulled up her white pants. "No. Now he thinks Ruri did!"

Itsuki was taken aback by her girlfriend's sudden anger. "Ryoko... you do realize that that could have been me, right? I could be the one suspected of killing our captain. And I would never do that. You know that, right? I'm not saying Ruri did it or would, but clearly they might have something on her, you know?"

"Ruri wouldn't do that. I know the girl. Not as much as Hikaru or Akito, but I know her. She wouldn't do it. But you're right. It would have been you. It almost was. Just because you decided to get all pissy and fight with Hikaru." Ryoko pulled a black tank top over her head, shaking her hair out as her head emerged.

Itsuki narrowed her dark eyes. "What the hell does Hikaru have to do with this?"

"You attacked her, Itsuki. She's my best friend. You thought I was just going to let you get away with it? You thought I wasn't going to say anything?" Ryoko balled up her old clothes along with her wet towel and threw it toward the laundry collector in the bathroom. "I may love you, but she's always, _always_ been there for me. And you tried to kill her. And do you know why? Because she accidentally offended you while trying to save your ass. If you had just tried to see past your selfish rage, you would have been able to see that. Rumiko didn't have to come to Mugendai in the first place. If you had just spilled the beans to Hikaru, they wouldn't have considered you for a second. Do you think I like the idea of my girlfriend's own pride setting herself up to be arrested for something she didn't do?"

Itsuki stood up from her seat on the blue sofa. "You're taking her side, now?"

"Oh, Itsuki," Ryoko said, making a mockery of Itsuki's own cultured deep voice, "I shouldn't have to tell you that there weren't any sides to begin with. You're a smart girl; I'm sure you can figure it out." Ryoko stomped out of the bathroom and slammed the door behind her, leaving Itsuki behind.

Itsuki felt angry tears form in her eyes and made no attempt to stop them from careening over her cheekbones. She couldn't stop shaking, the room around her echoing the loud, hateful violin screeches and shrieks. Just who the hell did Ryoko think she was? Just because she was sleeping with Itsuki didn't mean she could talk to her like that, like she didn't respect her. Itsuki had always respected Ryoko. How dare Ryoko treat her like that?

_She was defending her friend_, a small voice in her head told her secretively. Itsuki fell back down on the sofa, leaning back against the cushioned back. What Ryoko had said had hurt her, though. She didn't have to hurt her to make her point clear. Itsuki covered her face with her hands, her outer music dulling to softer, more sorrowful tones. Why had it hurt so much more from Ryoko?

_Because she knows me best, better than anyone save for Jiro._ Itsuki would have ignored or defended herself in front of anyone else speaking Ryoko's words. They didn't understand her, she would have told herself. They didn't know her. But the problem was that Ryoko did, and she had to face that.

Ryoko hadn't just cut her open, she had ripped off her skin and thrown her in the ocean. She hadn't just played a wrong note badly, she had snapped every one of Itsuki's strings. She hadn't just shaken her, she had jostled her to the point of dislodgment.

It was a harsh wake-up call for her, but one that, she knew somewhere inside her, Ryoko felt she needed.

---

It was very late that evening, but for Hikaru, the day was really only just beginning. It was the wee hours of the morning that were often held to be her most productive hours, hours when her drawing would result in her hands covered in graphite and her desk would be littered with sketch after sketch of the same character, outfit, or scene that would eventually make it into her next proposal. She couldn't see her clock from this desk; if she had, she would realize just how much time passed during this period, and be able to see just how much work she had gotten done. It never seemed enough, up close. It was always something not quite good enough, or not quite complete enough, or that didn't make enough sense. Hikaru's work only ever seemed to make sense in her head. Never on paper.

Tonight was different. She leaned back in her desk chair and stared at the blue-painted ceiling, painted to match the blue carpet and sheets in this room. She absently counted the little grooves in the ceiling, forming happy faces out of the haphazard designs. All the while, her conscious mind was churning. Not to produce the latest ideas she had into a visual form, but instead to make sense of the whole affair between her and Itsuki.

After Akito's request that Hikaru stay, if only for Jun's sake, she made herself more and more scarce. Hikaru wasn't exactly Ryoko or any of the boys. In a fight like the one the other day, Itsuki would win, undoubtedly. Besides, Hikaru had gotten at least a bit chubbier; the extra body mass would only help in restraining the musician, not fighting back against her. She wanted to avoid another confrontation with Itsuki if she could. She kept to her bedroom, the library, and often only was present in the parlor when others were as well. She didn't worry too much about her video game skills dwindling as she avoided them; there were more important things to worry about.

Like Ruri. Ruri had never been a part of their little "breakfast club" on the Nadesico, so Hikaru had never really gotten to know her too well. But it was while she and Ruri had shared a room that she had discovered that the girl was not as robotic as her best friend. Ruri was just a young girl that had been told too many times that she was meant to be like a machine. Ruri had come to learn, at least in Hikaru's eyes, that to have fun didn't mean abandoning your responsibilities. Sometimes, it just meant letting yourself smile. After all, Hikaru herself was a bit of a workaholic, at least when it came to her manga. Did that mean that Hikaru didn't take time to play video games or have fun? Well, lately, yes, but in general, no.

Did she think Ruri was capable of murder, let alone killing Yurika in such a brutal way? Hell no. Hikaru didn't believe that for a second. And the news, claiming that she was working with Inez? Ruri had Inez as a magic teacher, sure, and Inez and Ruri worked closely together because they were both incredibly intelligent... It just didn't seem likely. Not that Hikaru was certain that Inez was innocent. As much as she didn't want to admit it, she didn't trust Inez. She was just one mystery after the other. She was abandoned in the Martian Desert. She was actually only thirteen years old. She had been present in Ancient Mars. She had known how to use magic and about the existence of Ninlan. She was romantically involved with Izumi.

Hikaru narrowed her eyes. That wasn't really too much of a mystery. Hikaru could understand perfectly well why Inez was, apparently, enamored with Izumi. Hikaru was attracted to her as well, or at least was once. She was gorgeous: tall and leggy with the palest of skins offset by dark blue hair and crimson eyes. She was a genius: she knew more about both the Japanese and English languages than Hikaru could ever know. She was creative: she could write poetry, song lyrics, and short stories along with play the ukulele and the guitar. Izumi was, no doubt about it, a perfect catch.

Hikaru smiled humorlessly to herself. Listen to her. You'd think she was in love with the girl or something. Hikaru did believe she was, once. But Izumi's dependence on relationships at the time had deterred her from reaching for something more until it was too late. Hikaru did still love Izumi... as a friend. Perhaps that was always how she always loved her, only confusing it with something else when she was lonely. Izumi was her best friend, after all. And she should be glad that Izumi was happy with Inez.

But she wasn't happy. Hikaru frowned. She wasn't happy at all. Inez was in prison and wouldn't say whether or not she had killed Yurika and the others. Izumi was in constant worry about whether or not Inez was actually guilty or if she wasn't; and if she wasn't, would they just assume she was because she was the one person in the whole system that knew enough about Jumping. Hikaru could not help her friend this time. Hikaru was afraid her distrust of Inez would shine through.

It was an excuse, and she knew it. Hikaru felt stretched thin. She had to help Jun get through this period of grief. He had made great progress; he was more concerned about Subtracting Worlds than trying to plan a future without Yurika, a future he was bound to see as bleak. Despite this, Hikaru knew from her experiences with Izumi that the worst was not yet over. Jun would need to only look at his time without Yurika as one of growth. At least now he had an outlet. Izumi, after all, had always had her puns as an outlet, the only thing that Ryoko was able to do that Hikaru couldn't after Rinji died.

But on top of helping Jun when no one else could, Hikaru felt pressured to be helping Izumi with her worry and sorrow over Inez's situation. It was almost like when Rinji died all over again, only with the added variable of uncertainty causing anxiety on top of sadness and anger. Hikaru was sure that she heard Izumi make a couple of puns just that day. While puns, Hikaru and Ryoko had agreed (even if they sometimes thought they were annoying), were better than her suicide attempts, they had become a sign that Izumi felt weak, out of control, and unhappy with her life as it stood. Izumi had once spoken in nothing but puns; she had broken herself of that habit while on the Nadesico. Hikaru was worried that Izumi would have a relapse, but she also felt as if there was nothing she could do.

Of course, there was also her situation with Itsuki. She didn't want to hate her. She really didn't. Hikaru was not the kind of person to hate anyone. She disliked all of the boyfriends that had dumped her. She wasn't too keen on the Jupiterians for starting the Lizard War. She didn't trust Inez. She once felt used and abused by her grandmother. But she didn't hate any of them. But, then again, none of them had tried to physically attack her for personal reasons. The Jupiterians had attacked her, but only because she was on the other side of the war. Not because they felt she was an evil bitch who had no heart. Hikaru had a heart. But, apparently, Itsuki didn't understand that she was just trying to help her.

Hikaru sighed, straightened her head, and started back to work on drawing her main character, Junko, who looked nothing like the real Junko, with very long black hair that reached her waist and a simple school-girl uniform. Despite her name, age, and looks, Hikaru felt that Junko was very much like her. Only instead of being stretched when it came to helping people, she was worried about her grades, her job at a local arcade, and her rocky relationships with her family, friends, and her boyfriend.

Hikaru smiled. Just because the situation was different didn't mean that the sentiment wasn't the same.

---

Ruri was having difficulty adjusting to the new life her role as bait had spurned.

To keep up the appearance that she was, in fact, a prisoner, she was dressed in a simple shirt and jeans all the time, her hair hanging loose as she wished that she could put them up in ponytails. Guards were posted at each door in and out of the castle, and sometimes at each door of every room. There was a visible guard near the larger windows of the building as well. But these guards were not so much as to keep Ruri in the castle as much as they were there to protect Ruri from possible attack. A female guard followed Ruri to bed and to the bathroom; she stood watch as Ruri slept, showered, or used the toilet. This sort of physical privacy invasion, Ruri understood, was for her own safety. If the killers were to come and attack her when she was bathing, would her guard be able to come in soon enough? No. Ruri understood perfectly well that this was to keep her safe from any attempts on her life, even though that was the whole point.

Omoikane had not been as quick to understand. He knew why Ruri was doing this, being the bait in Megumi and Rumiko's trap. He hadn't asked a single question about that. But he hadn't understood why Ruri would put up with having someone watch her urinate.

"Because, Omoikane, I'm not ready to die," was the answer she gave him, and she was sure that, had he been human, that answer would have brought him to tears. He too was walking Ruri everywhere around the castle. He did not come into the bathroom with her, but he stayed with her so it would not seem as if her privacy being invaded, but rather that Omoikane would protect her.

It wasn't the lack of privacy that made Ruri uncomfortable. She had never cared about that.

On top of using her as bait, part of the plan was to fill the castle with Bose and retrospect particles. These particles, Rumiko and Megumi had said, would encourage the killers to arrive, as they had always used Jumping as a way in and as an escape route. Thus, Chulip Crystals, Earth's main manufacturer of such particles in places such as Jump shuttle stations, were present all throughout the castle. Some were hung up in chandeliers and lamps as decoration. Some were placed behind furniture pieces to hide them from prying eyes. Some were left out in the open, such as the one that now hung around Ruri's neck. She had to tuck it in whenever someone was likely to see her that didn't know she was simply bait, to be sure, but overall she left it to hang out, almost as a promise that, in the event of attack, she was prepared to do what she had to.

Gwynth hadn't bee pleased with the plan from the start, but she nearly through a fit when she learned that the plan meant that Peace Castle would be turned into a very volatile Jump field. She claimed they were opening up the castle to anyone who could "do that despicable thing". They were. She claimed they were unsure of how long the Jump field would last. They were. She claimed that they were desecrating generations of work that was put into the building, maintenance, and decorating of Peace Castle. They were. But even Ruri had to admit, none of that really mattered. What mattered was finding who had killed Yurika.

It wasn't her mother's indignation that made Ruri uncomfortable. She always expected that.

Only Gwynth, Frederick, Ruri, Omoikane, and the battalion of guards, both for Ruri's protection and show, took up residence in Peace Castle. No one else. Ariko had already been sent to Japan prior to it all. The rest of Ruri's brothers were with Gwynth's brother, Alfred, in Scandinavia. The staff had all been momentarily dismissed "until this little matter clears up" as Frederick said. Of course, it was a phrase chosen wisely; one that truthfully showed Frederick's optimistic side but also told the truth. The matter would clear up eventually.

Ruri could speak to no one. She wasn't forbidden, really. She had spoken to Megumi and Rumiko on a nearly daily basis. She had her parents, any guard escorting her through the castle that was her home, and Omoikane around all the time. But she hadn't spoken to anyone else. And Gods, she wanted to. She missed everyone: Akito, Ryoko, Dr. Fressange, Hikaru, Uribatake, Minato, Ariko, Yukina... She even missed her battles with Lapis. But that wasn't possible. Not now, when she was supposed to be under house arrest.

Even the crystal at her chest, meant entirely for her own protection, reminded her terribly of Akito. During her stay at Yamada Manor, the man she once only referred to as Tenkawa-san had become more than just a man who was nice to her. He became Akito, a friend. He told her all about the Utopia Colony, including his rocky childhood after his parents died. He told her about the crystal his father left him, the crystal that would later save his and Dr. Fressange's lives when the Jovian grasshoppers destroyed the shelter the civilians were all holed up in. It was this crystal now, one not unlike the one Dr. Tenkawa gave his young son, that would, hopefully, save Ruri's life.

Akito was probably no longer her friend. Only the world leaders that were present at that meeting four days ago, the police chiefs involved, her family (save for Ariko), and Miss Won knew she was innocent, just bait. Everyone else on the outside saw her as a ruthless, uncaring, heartless killer. Everyone believed she killed Yurika, Mythos, Aqua, and Kusakabe. Everyone thought she would ever lay a hand on anything in anger. As if she could. Even the Nergal hackings all of the news stations were using as proof that she was a terrible person were done more out of boredom and a need to prove herself. Even her own power was that of healing. She was not perfect. But she wasn't terrible. She wouldn't kill the person she saw as a mother more than her biological female parent.

But none of them knew. Everyone, she was sure, believed that she was guilty. That she would decapitate the captain. Never.

That was what was really bothering Ruri. And that was why she was surprised when she received a video call from Minato.

She had been just buttoning her pants that late afternoon, after sleeping away the morning to recover from their "late night interrogation", when Omoikane said softly, "Incoming signal."

Officer Peens, a Peaceland-employed officer who had taken up the afternoon clothes-changing watch opened up her communication window to the basement, where all activity was recorded by teams of technicians. "What's going on?"

Ruri could only see the mirror-image of what Officer Peens could see, but the woman on the other end held her slanted eyes away from the officer, clearly listening to the earpiece she had. She then reported, "There is a communications signal going through from the outside to the Princess's own communicator. Point of origin is Tokyo."

Ruri held up her left wrist and stared at the watch-like communicator. It was the same one she had from her Nadesico days, but had been reconfigured to talk to only the communicators within the castle. It would not do, of course, to let her stay on the Nadesico's network if she was "under arrest". Miss Won had made all of the changes so that she could still receive calls from those who were on the legendary ship, but only after the connection was approved.

Officer Peens opened up another window, this one showing the chief in his office at headquarters. "Sir. Someone is trying to reach the Princess through her communicator. Point of origin has been identified as Tokyo. Do we patch it through?"

Peaceland's own Security Chief tapped his prodigious chin with a surprisingly limber finger. "There is a great deal of former Nadesico crew that lives in Tokyo. Do you know _who_ it is?"

"One moment." Peens turned back to the basement. "Miss Air, have you been able to pinpoint the identity of the caller?" The technician, by the name, was most likely Ninlandish; Ruri wondered how Ninlan, being so behind with technology, could have a technician working in communicator signals.

"We just have. The caller is one Haruka Minato."

"Minato," Ruri breathed, causing Peens to separate the windows to look at her. She paid no mind. Minato was trying to contact her in the best way she knew how. Why? To tell her that she was an awful person? To renounce any love she had for Ruri, since Minato was like a second mother to her? Why?

"You know her?" Peens voice broke through Ruri's reeling thoughts.

She nodded, taking a seat at her desk. "She was the helmswoman. I could have lived with her. We were very close."

"'Were'?"

"Well, are... but the whole situation..."

Peens seemed to understand, nodding. "She's no Jumper?"

"No."

Peens turned back to the chief. "She seems to be clean, but I'll call in an extra guard just in case."

"Perfect. Keep it up."

Keep it up, he said. Ruri's heart sank in agony. Keep it up. Keep up the vicious disguise, the terrible trap. Make her believe that you killed her, killed them all. Ruri bit her lip. She would not sob in front of Minato. Three extra guards walked into Ruri's bedroom without so much as a knock. That didn't matter. They were there to hold a hand to each of Ruri's shoulders, ready to act the tough guard of a prisoner when it was necessary, or the selfless guard of a princess trying to trap a pair of teleporting killers.

Omoikane's statement, "Connection made," was all the warning Ruri had before Minato's face appeared before her. Minato's face, which had initially appeared just worried, sagged in shock and concern, her eyes and mouth widening as she took in Ruri's appearance.

"Oh, _Ruri_," she whispered. "What are they doing to you?"

"Holding me here against my will. Asking me questions about the details of each death. Watching me as I urinate and defecate." Ruri kept her mouth in a perfect line. She didn't want to do this to Minato. Minato would always love her. Gods Above, if she knew that she would have to lie to Minato's face, she wouldn't have agreed to do it. She couldn't smile at Minato, happy to see her at last; she couldn't frown at her, worried about what her lies would do to her. She could do nothing but shatter her. She had to make Minato believe that Ruri had killed them, killed them all, gleefully.

For Yurika.

Minato shook her head as tears streamed out from the corners of her eyes. "Ruri, why do they think you did it?"

"Because I did."

Minato's eyes glazed over and her lips quivered, her mouth opening and closing. "You... you can't be serious."

"I am serious. Deathly serious, if you don't mind the obvious joke."

"Ruri, you're fourteen years old."

"Age doesn't matter, Minato. I still planned it all out. I told Inez who to strike next. It was her idea from the start to end the war between Earth and Jupiter once and for all by killed Kusakabe, but once the ball started rolling..."

"No. Ruri. I know you didn't do it. You couldn't have. You're just not like that."

"Then clearly you don't really know me."

"_Ruri! You wouldn't have killed Yurika!_" Minato shouted at her, her face growing pink, and then rose.

"I had to, Minato. Don't you see? They were going to give her all the credit for my hard work." Ruri paused. "Excuse me. _Our_ hard work. I apologize. When you're all cooped up like me, you tend to forget that your handiwork was only part of a whole."

Minato was sobbing now, her face in her hands. The sight killed Ruri. "She loved you like a daughter, Ruri."

"Well, then, maybe she should have talked to me."

"Excuse me, but you're all out of time," Peens's voice was loud enough to pass through the whole room and over the signal to Japan.

Ruri nodded, smiling grimly. "Sorry, Minato. I've got to go. I think they want more details of how I had to fight to tie up Yurika's head like that." Ruri could only hear gagging sounds as the window closed, the signal barrier snapping back into place in her mind's eye. Instantly she sank down in her chair, resting against the back as the guards let go of her. They gave her one last comforting pat before leaving the room wordlessly.

Peens stepped close to her, but did not reach out to touch her. Her brown eyes gazed at the white carpet of Ruri's bedroom. "I'm sorry you have to do this to the people you love. I know it's hard for you. But... I think what you're doing is great. And your performance... if I may speak candidly, it was superb. If I hadn't known that you were absolutely innocent..."

Ruri covered her face with her left hand, closing her amber eyes. As an Electronic Fairy, she was tied to Omoikane, who reached out to touch her right hand. It was through him that she could see every system in place to monitor communication signals, particle stability, and security devices. All there for her protection. All she had to do was tell everyone who asked that she killed Yurika. All she had to do was break every one of their hearts.

All she had to do... was keep it up.

---

Sometimes, when Lapis was locked away in her bedroom, it seemed like she was the only one in the building. She knew it wasn't true. It was a workday, a weekday, a Tuesday. Late morning. Most of anyone that was missing was out to lunch. For instance, Miss Won had contacted her and told her that she would be going out to lunch with Onikirimaru-san. The message wasn't one that was suggesting or inviting Lapis to come. It wasn't even for if someone asked Lapis where she was, because they would be more likely to ask anyone else. It was only if she needed her, which was unlikely of itself. Lapis barely ever needed someone's input to do her job.

Not that she was doing much of that, mind. It was, after all, lunchtime.

Lapis was chewing away at the carrot she had been able to scrounge up from the Nergal cafeteria kitchens (of which she had unrestricted access, as she actually lived in the building) and resting a hand on her laptop. She had no mirror in close sight, but she was sure that her amber eyes were sparking blue as she stared off into space. She wasn't looking at nothing, after all. She was truly engrossed, reading the news on the Internet.

_Partly cloudy today, air quality is low, Jumpers are common victims of assault in Sendai, the spaceport scored well in emergency practical exams, and of course some bar is being shut down because of political corruption._ Lapis read the news almost every day. She was rarely seen outside, so she didn't need to know the weather, really. She was more than protected within Nergal Headquarters, so crime wasn't her concern. No, what she really wanted to know was why Ruri had been arrested.

Lapis had heard the news right where she was now: on her laptop. She almost immediately contacted Miss Won, wondering if she knew about this particular development. As it turned out, she had. She had been in Peaceland the day it had taken place. Gods knew why.

Lapis let her eyes go back into focus as she released her hold on her laptop. She tossed the carrot top into her wastebasket. It bounced off a styrofoam cup and landed on her tiled floor. She sighed, shook her head, and bent down to pick it up.

She was absolutely captivated by the story of the mighty Ruri being trapped in her own home, unable to go anywhere. When she heard of Dr. Fressange being arrested for the same crime, she was, if anything, discouraged. She enjoyed Dr. Fressange's company. It was a shame that they all believed she was guilty of the terrible crimes.

But Ruri. Oh, Lapis could not help but smile as she thought of it.

For as long as Lapis could remember, Ruri had been some sort of ideal that she was always being compared to. After all, Nergal had created her using Ruri's DNA. Lapis was supposed to be everything Ruri was, and more. Unfortunately, they had not taken into account Ruri's time at La Homaro Instituto, nor her time on the Nadesico. It was both of these outside influences that made Ruri seem more... human.

Lapis and Ruri had battled in the past: when Ruri tried to hack into Nergal's systems, when Lapis tried to hack into Omoikane. More than anything else, Lapis despised Ruri as a standard she was being held up to, but yet respected her as a rival. Neither of those things stopped her from finding humor in the fact that everyone and their brother seemed to think that Ruri was capable of killing her captain, among others. Ruri? The sweet little princess? Ha! Lapis knew for a fact that Ruri wasn't involved, and she certainly wasn't helping Dr. Fressange in any way, shape, or form. Ruri just would not be able to. What she did know was that Ruri would be the next up on the hit list.

Lapis wasn't stupid. She knew all about the whole case of the "Jumper Murderers", as they were being so eloquently called; the first victim was someone just about everyone Earth-side wanted dead anyway, and every following victim was part of the collection of people who were suspected next. The next up to die would, clearly, either be Dr. Fressange or Ruri, and since Ruri was the one that was still relatively out in the open...

Lapis would certainly miss her battles with Ruri, but it couldn't be helped. Ruri was just going to be the next one to go under the knife. Besides, Lapis hadn't had much interaction with Ruri in the past few weeks anyway. She hadn't battled her at all in as much time, either. Ruri having to die was only going to officially end such activities. Lapis had better things to do anyway.

Like read Hari's "Thoughts". Lapis was already through over half of the ones that were present the day she discovered them, but she discovered it wasn't likely to reach the end any time soon; the number had grown consistently over the past few weeks, about one per day. When Ruri was arrested, the number really took off, nearly doubling what had been there in the first place. Lapis had not read any of those yet, trying to go in chronological order, but she felt she could guess as to the subject.

Hari's password was her name: Lapis Lazuli. Why would he go on and on about Ruri? Sure, she may have been the first Electronic Fairy, and sure Hari idolized her like no tomorrow, but did he have to go out of his mind about the who debacle? It was just Little Miss Perfect. It was just Ruri. People like her needed to die after all.

Lapis slapped a hand back onto her laptop. She opened up a connection to Hari's computer and breezed past his shoddy security mechanisms. For someone who was supposed to be an Electronic Fairy like her, he certainly wasn't the most adept at keeping intruders out of his system. Although, in his defense, Lapis could accept that it was probably because he was a late bloomer as opposed to her. She zoomed right to the folder of thoughts, finding one of the newest ones and holding it in her virtual hand.

_I know what this says. It says that he's distraught at the idea of Ruri doing such a thing. He's upset that they would arrest his idol. He's angry that they would say that she would be capable, but the Gods above know that she isn't._ Against her better judgment, she opened the file.

Again, Hari's computer swore it had no program with which to open the file, but Lapis physically shook. She could feel the itch behind his knee, the itch he had as he created this file. She could smell him: his soap, his shampoo, his laundry detergent. Goosebumps spread across her back.

"How could she do such a terrible thing! She was her captain! I just can't believe it. And to think that I idolized her! Ruri is a cold-blooded killer, and I can't believe I didn't see it before. But it all fits; even Lapis, who truly dislikes people, gets along with them better than Ruri can. Not that that makes anyone a serial killer. But I remember when I was learning magic. You get attached to your teacher. They are able to touch you. Maybe Dr. Fressange... No. That's not possible. I never really believed that Dr. Fressange was involved anyway. She's such a nice woman. So informative. She's polite. Ruri wasn't polite. She was always going up against her mother, I know. I would never do that. I may spend more time here than at home, but I would never treat my mother the way Ruri treats hers.

"And she had said that her captain was like a mother to her. And she cut her head off! Personally, I'm glad that she's stuck in that castle. Society needs people like her locked away. We'll never be able to advance if such hate is still around."

Lapis disconnected as she reached the end of the file, pulling her consciousness out of her laptop entirely. She could feel a small, amused smile tug at her normally stiff lips. _Oh, Hari. Naive, trusting Hari._ Lapis was surprised to see Hari toss away his practical worship of the first Electronic Fairy because of an act that they had only heard about, an act that Lapis knew for a fact that Ruri would never have done. Oh, if only he knew that Ruri was innocent. That she had never killed anyone. Lapis was sure his tune would change after that.

Lapis laughed humorlessly to herself as she connected yet again to her laptop, intent on actually doing work rather than playing around on the network and systems. It was funny. Hari was supposed to be the one to teach Lapis about being more human than machine. Yet, it was she that could see through whatever sort of trick Ruri and Gods-knew-who-else were trying to pull. Not Hari. Hari just took the bait, hook, line, and sinker. But yet, Lapis was the one of them least likely to care. After all, she had been called, on more than one occasion, heartless. At least one of which, Lapis was sure, was Ruri. This time, though, it appeared as if reason won out over emotion. Maybe that was why everyone bought that load of garbage. They were all so passionate about finding the Jumper murderers that they would believe even that which their minds told them not to believe: that Ruri, the one person most absolutely loyal to the Nadesico captain, would be able to kill her, among others.

Not that it mattered. Ruri was going to die. And nothing could change that.

---

Omoikane thought, or at least hoped, that Ruri didn't know he was the first line of defense against any attacker that may breach Peace Castle. Sure, there were multitudes of guards swarming the palace, each armed to the teeth with weapons of all sorts. Sure, the castle had been rigged to sense just about any sort of movement, intrusion, and subatomic particle to sweep through. Sure, there was a veritable army of technicians below in the basement ready to pick out any change in the sensors and raise the alarms. Sure, when it came down to it, Ruri was her final line of defense as a Jumper, able to escape at a moment's notice with the Bose and retrospect particles that now flowed freely throughout Peace Castle, along with the Chulip Crystal about her neck.

But there was only so much a large crowd of people could do before the inevitable squabbling, the inevitable boredom, and the inevitable lack of dedication to protecting the princess would come to a head. Omoikane would be the first to admit each of them were useful in their own way, as well. Omoikane simply wasn't human, and in this case, he was glad for it. He could not physically protect Ruri like the guards could, but Omoikane was prepared to pick up where the technicians and all of their sensitive instruments left off, and actively did so. After all, what if there was a slight something that one person missed while on a coffee or bathroom break? What if a common discrepancy, one that was ignored because it was a usual occurrence, turned into something terrible? There was only so much the humans could do, and so much more that Omoikane could do.

As it was, Omoikane had already alerted the technicians below to various false alarms. Omoikane was truly sorry for them, but he was sure that it would be better to be sale than sorry. He could, without the slightest bit of effort, hook into the network of the security systems. That was the first false alarm that Omoikane had raised, and one that had everyone in the basement bustle around in a worry until Ruri got involved. She had to explain to the technicians, and Omoikane as well, that the robot had a computer mind that was unlike any other in the world, and was one of the most advanced in existence. Omoikane was well aware of his abilities, but he was certain that it was better to be safe than sorry.

The second false alarm Omoikane had raised was, even he had to admit, an act of paranoia. He had felt a bit too much steam in one of the rooms. Fearing the killers using steam to blind the cameras, he had raised up the alarms, alerting the technicians to what he had labeled a "potential" breach. They had all acted accordingly, but when the source of the steam had been the king taking a shower, the technicians were none-too-pleased with Omoikane.

He didn't understand it. Sure, his observations and concerns may not have led to the real killers. Did that make them less valid? They had never seen how these people worked; who knows how they moved in and moved out so quickly with no one seeing? Were they all really so prepared to just throw Ruri to the wolves to avoid a little bit of action? Omoikane sure wasn't going to take that chance.

So when Omoikane's ears perked at what he felt was a stream of Bose and retrospect particles collecting somewhere in the castle, he didn't hesitate one second to alert the technicians so that they may alert everyone else, along with start pinpointing the location.

He had been sitting dutifully at Ruri's side in the dining room as she grudgingly listened to her mother go on and on about the duties of the Peaceland queen, of which seemed to include flower-arranging for some reason. The guard at the door was Ninlandish and held her position as if she was guarding the Ecclesiastical Palace itself, but smiled once in a while at Gwynth's explanations and demonstrations, showing her gruesome teeth. Omoikane had been wary of her at first, but came to realize that she was one of the guards that was nearly as dedicated as he, along with an expert swordswoman, her long blade strapped tightly to her waist, yet still nearly reaching the floor. Rather than first alert Ruri, in attempts to make sure that someone else was ready to neutralize any threat should there be one, Omoikane merely turned and caught Nabemog's eye. She narrowed her yellow-green eyes in concern and question just before Omoikane closed his own, focusing on his task at hand.

It was a tactic he had learned from Ruri herself: flood the room with communications windows that told the tale. Although he wasn't there, he knew exactly what the room looked like, with blinking windows that screamed warnings, stats, and caution symbols; and larger windows that displayed the true problem, where to investigate it, and where the princess was at this time. He made an extra point to send down some windows that explained Bose and retrospect particles, their uses, and what his assessment could mean. With as much information as he sent down to the basement, it did not surprise him that a communications window appeared in the dining room in response, though he didn't expect it to appear before Ruri.

"Your Highness, I must request that you restrain that computer-robot-thing of yours," cried a very frazzled looking Ocean Air, the Ninlandish technician in charge of communications during the afternoon hours. "He has windows flying every-which-way down here-- gah!" Miss Air instinctively ducked as one small, blinking one that said "Warning!" darted to where her head was. She sat back up, her short gray hair having somehow been mussed in the process.

Ruri did nothing to quell Miss Air's concerns, but instead turned to Omoikane, her silver brows drawn together. "What's wrong, Omoikane?"

Omoikane didn't have a chance to answer, as the chief technician, Saod Killible, had opened a communications window straight to Omoikane. "What in the name of hell are you up to, boy!" the burly man shouted at Omoikane, his face growing redder by the second.

Omoikane was not inclined to answer him, but knew he must, for Ruri's sake. "I have sensed the creation of a Jump field somewhere in the castle!"

"Goddamn it, boy! The whole castle is a Jump field, what with all them damn CCs strung up all over creation!"

Omoikane shook his head quickly. "No, sir, I mean one is being created to be used!"

Mr. Killible glared at the robot boy. "This better not be another false alarm boy, or I'll have your wires for dental floss."

"It isn't, I swear."

"And how am I supposed to know that? Telepathy?"

Omoikane groaned. "Look, sir, I have sensed a stream of Jumping particles collecting themselves in the castle. For that to happen, someone must be either Jumping in or Jumping out."

"Might I remind you that about a quarter of our protection forces are Ninlandish? Just about any of them could be using that ability o' theirs to go somewhere quick."

"Not all Ninlanders can Jump; just the mages can. And the only Jumper in the whole building is Ruri-sama."

Mr. Killible sat down, taken aback by the robot's boldness. Omoikane could hear the snapping of him grinding his teeth. "All right boy, I'm taking you up on it." The window disappeared, and Omoikane was faced by Ruri once more.

"First off, you're wrong. Those particles can collect when one is using magic as well, but as the only Jumper in the castle..." Ruri's face held her usual stoic expression, but her hands were shaking.

Omoikane's heart broke. He didn't mean to worry his Ruri. "I'm sorry," he shook his head. "It's probably nothing. Just like last time." He smiled to reassure his princess, his goddess, his queen.

"Right," she replied, turning away. "Just like last time."

Gwynth narrowed her eyes at the pair. "Is there something going on?"

"Maybe," Ruri responded, her voice taking on an edge that only appeared when addressing Gwynth.

A crackle of static announced the appearance of yet another communications window, this time on Nabemog's communicator. The window, however, was full of just static and snow. Nabemog looked at her wrist and fiddled with her communicator, returning the call. "I'm sorry, say that again?"

Just as the window cleared and showed Mr. Killible in a frantic rage, a blue flash filled the dining room, blinding each of them, save for Omoikane. Gwynth rubbed at her eyes with her fists and Ruri held her closed. Omoikane looked toward the origin of the flash to find what, or who, had not been there just a moment before.

Erina Kinjo Won and Onikirimaru Kaguya, the former holding the latter by a rope at her neck.

If Omoikane had had a heart, he was sure it would have dropped to his stomach, and then risen to his throat. His immediate reaction was not that of shock or of surprise at whom the Jumper murderers actually were, or that they would come; instead, it was of Ruri, who he grabbed with one hand on her arm, his machine nerves singing at the connection of their skins once more.

_Ruri-sama, you have to Jump._ Even if she had not initialized the contact, he knew she would hear her. Just because he was the controlled did not mean that he could not instruct and advise the controller.

_Yes,_ was the only response he had before a bright blue light engulfed himself. His vision was clouded with the sight of a colorful and yet colorless expanse for a mere moment before he found himself in the basement he was just messaging just a minute ago. His hand still grasped Ruri tightly, so when she severed the connection by moving away, his body felt the traumatic loss of the girl he was sure must be dead.

_No,_ his mind told him._ She's fine._ His gaze confirmed this. The petite princess was moving toward the large Mr. Killible to inquire as to what happened. Omoikane rushed to follow her, but had to stop as a different burly man swept Ruri up into his arms. King Frederick.

Frederick buried his daughter deep into his chest and shook her from side to side. Tears streamed out of his eyes as he cried out for all to hear, "Thank God they didn't take you too!"

Omoikane could practically feel Ruri's ears perk up. She pushed away from her father to gaze into his face. She narrowed her amber eyes. "'Me too'? Father, what happened?"

Frederick sniffed but made no motions to loosen his grip on Ruri. "You've been missing for over an hour. We were certain that they had taken you as well. They slit Officer Nabemog's throat and left her for dead. As soon as you disappeared..." He began to weep again.

Mr. Killible seemed uncomfortable to break up the king's relieved tirade, but he did it just the same. "I've got Emperor Adagio on communications line. He said that he and the empress will be here shortly to identify the destination of the second Jump."

Omoikane's computer mind was just as fast, if not faster than Ruri's, so he was able to deduce what this meant before her. "You mean you didn't get them?" he cried, his hands leaping to his face in horror.

Mr. Killible gritted his teeth as he answered. "No, boy, we didn't. We know who it is though, and as soon as that emperor and his wife get here, we'll know where they took her too, so we'll be able to nab 'em."

Ruri turned to the chief technician. "Took whom?"

Mr. Killible looked to Frederick in sympathy, then turned away, saying nothing. The king of Peaceland hiccupped once before he revealed the answer. "Your mother, Ruri." He hiccupped once more. "They took my Gwynth!"

---

TBC...


	34. I'm your Madness

As Rumiko was being briefed of the situation, and as he and Megan were being driven from the Peaceland Jump Shuttle station to Peace Castle, he began to wonder at just what it was they were hoping to accomplish with the trap. It had been conceived by his genius wife, that was no mistake, but now Rumiko wondered if the plan had been developed fully before it had been placed in action. The baiting was simple enough, and had been the bulk of the plan, from what he could recall. But now, he wondered what the point had been. Did they really just want to know who it was? Rumiko thought the point had been to catch them, but, as he watched the flurry of people that swarmed the halls of Peace Castle, he wondered if such an idea had been in the original recipe for the actions that had taken place that day.

All through the trip, Megan had been nearly silent. Rumiko could not figure out why. He would have imagined she was worrying greatly over the girl that she had been more than acquainted with. However, Megan kept her mouth shut, her focus far away, and her mind churning. Rumiko silently wished he was Magus's Rage rather than Calm and able to read her mind and guide her back into the land of the living.

Rumiko was almost immediately approached by a man dressing in a blue golfing shirt and black jeans. He noticed Rumiko out of the corner of his large green eyes and interrupted his conversation with a technician to meet up with Rumiko. He brushed a loose and straight strand of blue hair behind his ear, and then bowed his head quickly before stretching a hand out. "Your Excellency. Jacob Shaw, Law Enforcement Sheriff here in Peaceland."

Rumiko took his outstretched hand as he recognized the high-pitched voice of a man that was clearly as young as he had sounded on the phone. "Yes, you called us to come as quickly as we could." He pointedly glanced at Megan, who merely nodded her head, not appearing to pay much attention to Sheriff Shaw. Rumiko twisted his mouth to the side, then drew his attention back to the man before him. "We're aware of the basics of what happened, but we need closer details. They came in..."

"They came in in the dining room; here, I'll take you there." Sheriff Shaw led them around a maze of news cameras and reporters, technicians, and crime scene investigators. They got from the hall to a large set of double doors, which were wide open, but blocked off by yellow police tape. Sheriff Shaw bent under the tape and held it up for both Rumiko and Megan to also crouch under. Rumiko dusted off his ubiquitous silver robes, and looked about the dining room. The three of them were hardly the only ones present; the room was buzzing with scientists armed with Bose particle sensors, investigators searching for any sign of physical evidence, and apparently also more than one person interrogating the silver-haired princess. Rumiko's lips parted. Ruri.

Megan's gaze found the source of his own with a gasp. She turned to the Peaceland sheriff and her husband in question. "I need to..." Rumiko knew what she meant. He cut her off with a nod. Her blue eyes welled up as she lifted her purple skirts and rushed over to the girl, sweeping her into a smothering hug. The embrace was held for nearly a full minute before Megan said something to Ruri, something Rumiko couldn't hear. The two of them then retreated from the dining room. Rumiko felt the corners of his mouth twitch. Megan had truly been worried about the girl they had set up as bait in her ingenious trap. It wasn't until Ruri was truly in danger that Megan realized what her plan entailed.

Sheriff Shaw cleared his throat. "Is she going to be all right?"

Rumiko nodded, focusing on the task at hand. "Yes. My wife can sometimes be emotional. She also looks to the princess as family." He shook his head. "Think not on it." Rumiko glanced around the room. "Where did they come in from?"

Sheriff Shaw raised a thin blue brow in question. "I thought you were aware... They Jumped into the room."

It took all of Rumiko's strength to keep from rolling his eyes. Did they think that because he was Ninlandish, he was an idiot? "I understand that. But the point in the room they were in when they Teleported in, where is it?"

Realization spread over Sheriff Shaw's tan face until it reached his widened eyes. "Oh. I... I didn't realize. I'm sorry." He smiled humorlessly and reached up to scratch his head. "I'm still not completely clear about how this Boson Jumping thing works."

Rumiko softened with a sigh. Not many did. "For obvious reasons, perhaps you should find out. That is the form of transportation those who took your queen employed."

Sheriff Shaw closed his eyes and nodded. "I know. I understand. I meant no disrespect, to neither you nor Her Majesty."

Rumiko only hummed a response as Peaceland's sheriff pulled himself together. He walked around a table and past a frighteningly large and dried puddle of a rusty, ruddy brown that bordered on red. _Blood_, Rumiko thought. He shook his head. He really wished that they would not come to regret the use of Megan's plan. "Was the queen unharmed when she was taken?"

Sheriff Shaw nodded his head quickly, almost too quickly. "As far as we know. Her Highness, the princess, only saw who the intruders were, but our camera recordings show only minimal discomfort applied to Her Majesty before she was spirited away." He sighed heavily, shakily. "You do not suppose the queen has been hurt, wherever she has been taken?"

Rumiko shook his head. "There is no way to tell, now. I do not believe so, as this is the first time they've taken a prisoner. They truly wanted the princess, not the queen." He sighed himself. "We must simply hope that they will not believe that Queen Gwynth is an acceptable substitute."

The sheriff swallowed harshly before gesturing with a wide swoop of his arm toward the area between the large and long oak dining table and the stone wall. "They came in somewhere over here. We're not exactly sure where--"

"I am," Rumiko interrupted. The room clearly sparkled in two very different colors, though both were beginning to fade: white, for Ruri's escaping Teleport; and silver. The white was centralized closer to the other side of the room, while the more opaque silver was in the area that the sheriff had indicated. "I hate to tell you how to perform your own profession, Sheriff Shaw..."

Sheriff Shaw waved a hand in front of his nose. "Apology isn't necessary, Your Excellency. As you said, it would be prudent of me to understand the Jumper's arts, if only to aid in apprehending them."

Rumiko hummed, then spoke. "Very well. You would do well to hire some with vision."

"Uh... with all due respect, most of our officers have the ability to see."

"Tch. I meant, the ability to see magic, Sheriff. Signatures denoting magical use or even Teleportation sites. Even if they cannot read them, being able to see them would be enough to know that a mage was involved in the crime, whatever it may be." Rumiko then knelt beside the silver patch in the wooden floor. Before he allowed the sheriff to reply, he held his hands over the silver that only he could currently see and closed his eyes. With his eyes shut, he felt every bit of left over magic used for Teleportation, every particle. He could turn them over in his hands and feel them, observe them, and look over them with his mind and power as he read what was there.

A darkened office room. A potted plant in the corner, a fancy desk with a simple laptop on the surface. No picture frames adorned the desk, but instead plants that reached across the surface of the desk to each other, like struggling lovers. The room smelled of soft pine and lemon: it had been recently cleaned. The darkness was so deep that it was not merely of a lack of light, but also of the lack of day shining between the blinds of the wide windows that covered the far wall.

It made no sense. There should not have been a signature here. Miss Won was no mage; instead, she would be dependent on the Teleportation powers of Onikirimaru Kaguya, former captain of the Gardenia and Erina's lover and accomplice. But Miss Onikirimaru was Magus's Calm, much like Rumiko: endowed with the ability to copy elemental magic, lacking in the ability to leave signatures. To speak truth, Rumiko felt as if he should have suspected a copy mage all along, if only because the signatures were inconclusive.

But they weren't inconclusive. Each one had pointed at Misumaru Yurika as the killer. It was her signature that claimed dominance in each Teleportation site. But she was dead.

__

Each was Yurika's, Rumiko considered, then moved away from trying to find the source of this particular Teleportation site, which was clearly where they had come in from. Instead, knowing full well who had created the site, he looked to who the site claimed was the creator. The question of "Who?" resonated throughout Rumiko as he queried the spot, not expecting an answer.

However, an answer came, albeit slowly. Blue-violet hair, aqua green eyes, a smile that barely ever quit, and a pathological fear of the cold. A genius strategist, an attractive young lady, and a hopeful future wife. Rumiko's eyes slid open slowly as he knit together his dark eyebrows. Yurika. It just wasn't possible. Yurika was dead. Undeniably, absolutely dead. For weeks. How could there still be Teleportation sites still claiming her creation?

"Your Excellency?" Sheriff Shaw had crouched down beside him and placed a hand on his silver robes. Rumiko was shocked out of his contemplation like a man woken up suddenly. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine." Rumiko winced at his own tone. The sheriff was simply trying to do his job. It wasn't his fault that things suddenly had stopped making sense. "Where did they leave from?"

Sheriff Shaw smiled; an odd expression for him, Rumiko decided. "That one we know for sure." He walked around the table to the head of it, beside what appeared to be an overturned chair. Rumiko couldn't tell. While the white on the other side of the room was fading, and the silver of the previous spot fading even faster, this one was fresh. Very fresh. So fresh that it was nearly blinding to look upon. Rumiko squinted his amber eyes as he nodded to the sheriff. Just like at the last site, he knelt beside it and held both hands over it.

This Teleportation site was much more important than the previous one. This one would tell the destination that they had Teleported to, so that they could send appropriate people to handle what Rumiko hoped would only be a hostage situation, rather than another killing. The other one was just to tell him where they had come from, which Rumiko could only assume was one of their own offices at Nergal Heavy Industries. It didn't really matter where they came from, to speak truth. His hands felt clammy. This would be the one that counted.

He brushed his thoughts away and instead focused on trying to read the destination of this particular site. He could feel the air thick with the magic, the things that Earthling science said were particles that allowed for Teleportation and magic use. Rumiko knew them only as the tell-tale signs that someone had, in fact, used this place in space as a launch site. He could nearly feel the individual particle trace over his pale skin. He curled his fingers, flexing them as he threaded them through the strands of invisible, but infinite power. His eyes slid closed as he beckoned with his mind. _Come, and share what you know,_ he persuaded. Much like the pages of a book, the particles that he now cupped with both hands would tell him very much about the events that had taken place, but not with words or ink. Instead, with images.

And it was images that came to his mind, hitting all of his senses with the force of a hammer. The air was somewhat colder than he was used to, even for one from the distant Ninlan, but the air was nonetheless clear of moisture. It was a clear and bright day, with an orange sky that Rumiko could only assume meant that it was nearing sunset. Wind ruffled his black strands as the scent of rust made his nose cringe. All around him was a ground that was somehow even redder than the sky, and littered with debris. There were homes that were hollowed out and roofless. Metal machines of various sorts lay crumpled and half-buried in the deep red sands. In the distance, a large and colorless monolith with the top shaped much like a Ninlandish cup-flower towered over all and shed long shadows across the wide and barren expanse.

Rumiko's eyes flew open like someone had surprised him, and he allowed his hands to fall limply to his knees. He stared into the silver patch of particles and magic, unable to conceive of what he had seen. He had, after all, only ever been to Ninlan and Earth. And there was no place on either, to his knowledge, that looked so. Rumiko took a deep breath through his mouth, not able to remember the last time he had breathed. The air around his was crisp and clean, not dust-ridden, and it was slightly air-conditioned, but not so much that he shivered under his silver robes.

"...Your Excellency?" Sheriff Shaw's words broke through Rumiko's thoughtless concentration. Rumiko blinked and closed his lax mouth with indignation. He raised his face up to the young man that sought only to retrieve his queen. A fool, perhaps. There was no simple way to inform this man of the truth.

"I don't know where they took her, sheriff."

Shaw visibly drooped, his eyebrows the only thing on his person to stay absolutely clenched. He even worked to shut his mouth by swallowing, but there was no way to keep it so. Green eyes were disbelieving, and distrusting. "They said you would be able to determine where they went. They said that if no one else could read the signature, you could." Rumiko sighed and pulled off his glasses, closing his eyes as he rubbed the bridge of his nose. He reveled in sightlessness before he replaced them upon his nose. Shaw's voice took on a hint of a whine. "I have to save my queen, Emperor Adagio! What am I to do?"

Rumiko narrowed his eyes. "First off, you could quit your sniveling. It's unbecoming of an authoritative official to drop his resolve in front of his men." Rumiko gestured to all of the security and police professionals that still scurried about the room and palace. Some quickly turned away, to not let it be known that they were watching and listening, but only giving away their prior actions. "Next, you could listen to my words rather than your fears. Whoever told you I could read it, well, 'they' were right. I could read it. That's not the problem."

Shaw dropped all sense of respect as he crossed his arms and glared at the raising emperor. "Then what is the problem, _Your Excellency_?"

Rumiko sighed with a slight growl under his breath. He was not in the mood for a pissing contest with this spoiled child. "The problem, my dear sheriff, is comprehension. I've never seen nor been to the place that they have been. So, while I can see it, I do not know where it is."

"Well, isn't that just wonderful for us?"

Rumiko truly was beginning to dislike this man and his tone. "If you would like to rescue your queen," he hissed from behind clenched teeth, "you'll shut your flapping mouth and hide your wagging tongue. Your anger and worries will get us nowhere." Shaw blinked and took a step back, surprised. Noting that the officer was finally listening, Rumiko pulled himself to his feet. "Luckily for you all, I happen to know someone who has had extensive training in reading magical signatures, and has been to many more places than I have." Without another word to Shaw, Rumiko walked right out of the dining room with a slight stomp in his step, crouching underneath the yellow crime tape physically guarding the dining room from people who would do nothing more than get in the way of those that wanted to both capture the killers and rescue the Peaceland queen.

Rumiko found Megan and Ruri seated on a wooden bench very similar to the pews in the First Pentakami Church that he and Megan were married in. They were talking softly, but the conversation came to an abrupt stop as Rumiko approached. Ruri noticed him first, her amber eyes shifting from Megan's face to Rumiko. Megan noticed this change in attention and turned to see Rumiko standing almost directly behind her. She said nothing, but only twitched her purple brows in question. Her face was somewhat flushed, as were the white of her blue eyes. Rumiko felt sorrow at not being able to comfort his wife just now. Instead, there was something a touch more important than her emotions. Someone's life was, after all, in the balance.

"Megan," he began, and then stopped. How could he admit to not knowing the destination in question? "I... read the signature, but I don't know the location. Perhaps..."

Megan nodded wordlessly, cutting him off as she rose from her seat as gracefully as she could. She looked down to Ruri once more, patting Ruri's pale hands in her own. She offered her a small smile before turning away and heading into the dining room.

Rumiko and Megan nearly ran into Shaw as he was lifting the crime tape to follow Rumiko into the great hall. A faint blush marred his cheeks almost instantly. "Your Excellencies, I..."

Rumiko narrowed his eyes at the childish man. "My wife, Empress Megan Adagio of Ninlan may be able to determine the location of your queen, or at least where her captors went from this room." Megan gave a very small bow of her head before she ducked in the tape, with Rumiko following. Shaw had learned his lesson; he stood out of the way and allowed for the rulers of Ninlan to make their entrance.

Megan looked to Rumiko again in question, and he pointed in the direction of the departing signature. Megan nodded and walked over there, swerving and weaving her way around others who were taking the more usual measurements and surveys. Rumiko took a moment to watch her progress, then followed her, reaching the signature patch just as she had knelt before it. Megan rolled her shoulders as she closed her eyes and tilted her head back, then held her hands over the silver patch, which was slowly fading, but still more sharply colored than its twin on the other side of the room.

Though Megan's own position was much like Rumiko's as he read the signature, there was a different look upon her face. Rumiko knew that when he read, he scrunched up his face in concentration. Megan, on the other hand, was the very image of serenity, looking much like she had gone to sleep, if it weren't for the fact that her hands were held rigidly and hovering over the signature. Rumiko could swear that it was growing darker by the second as she read it.

Finally, her eyes fluttered open and her hands came to rest upon the purple fabric of her dress. She looked up to both Rumiko and Sheriff Shaw, who had been standing by to hear her determination. With widened blue eyes, she shook her head. "You're not going to believe it."

Rumiko wet his lips with his tongue in anticipation. He cleared his throat. "Yes?"

Megan pulled herself slowly to her feet, brushing any dust out of her skirts. "They went to the ruins of the Utopia Colony. On Mars."

---

It was a pastime she hadn't truly indulged in since before she went to live with her grandmother, before her mother died and her father committed suicide.

Since then (or even before then, she couldn't quite remember so far back), she had retreated only to art. Art didn't require a fine hand and patience. It could, at times, but Hikaru never found herself lacking with a pencil, pen, or brush in her hand. Plus (if she was careful), it didn't make quite as much of a mess. Still, even though she hadn't quite played with her dominos since she was relatively young, she had always carried a pack or two with her, just in case. This was one of her special cases.

Hikaru was never one to worry about taking on too much on her plate, which was a cause for alarm and stress many times during her life. Even now, as she worried about Ruri and tried to keep an eye on Jun, she was also trying to get a magazine to run her manga. She was supposed to receive a call today from, actually, a major shoujo magazine that ran some of the most popular manga of her genre. It was something that Hikaru was really, truly hoping for. However, she knew that if she didn't busy herself in another way, she would be staring at the phone or worse yet, try to make "improvements" that would end up ruining her art and story ideas. She didn't want to disturb Jun, who was busy working away at some song lyrics in his house, and she didn't want to bother Izumi, who was doing... well, she had no idea what, but she hoped it was something therapeutic. Hikaru had Ruri to worry about, and Jun, but she knew she had to worry about her best friend, also. After all, her best friend's girlfriend was in jail for murder. Who wouldn't be worried about that?

Hikaru's room was one of the smallest, if not the smallest, in all of Yamada Manor, with little room to move, but she didn't mind. Everything she ever needed was in here, up to and including the little wooden box of little wooden and plastic blocks, which she was dutifully standing on their ends around her room: on the desk, across the two beds, even on the carpet, which had proven to be a bit of a challenge that she faced with a smile. She only wanted to worry about not knocking over her handiwork too early.

She heard a small "blip" sound that was muffled by walls and insulation, but she did not let it shake her hand as she placed yet another small tile on the wooden surface of her slanted easel/desk. The sound did not jar her hand, but it did jar her concentration somewhat; her mind stopped focusing on steadying and balancing the domino and started listening. Where did the sound come from?

It was followed by some muffled talking, and then something that sound distinctly like someone swearing. She tilted her ear up, but was not answered with more muffled words, but instead by another blip. She listened for a moment more, wondering if she had simply imagined it all; after all, if she closed her eyes, all she could see were white blocks with black dots. However, just as she was turning her attention back from the blocks behind her eyelids to the blocks in her hands, a series of three beeps from in her room perked her ears up for a second time. She turned her head quickly just as a much louder blip signified the opening of a relatively large communications window showing the less-than-pleased visage of her former magic teacher and current emperor, Rumiko Adagio.

To say that the resultant chain reaction of dominos was catastrophic was only a slight understatement. Over the sound of clacking wood and plastic, Hikaru could barely hear the black-haired mage speak to her. "Miss Amano, I regret disturbing you, but do you happen to know the whereabouts of Tenkawa Akito?"

Hikaru narrowed her eyes behind her glasses and tried to fight with her brain. She glanced over to her dresser; sure enough, her communicator from her old Nadesico days sat upon its surface, its blue light indicating a connection blinking brightly in the late afternoon light that streamed in from her windows that gave her both a view of the pool area and Yamada Manor's expansive and wooded backyard. "Wait... you were trying to connect up with Akito just now?"

Rumiko groaned and rolled his amber eyes. "Yes, Miss Amano. I am asking for him, aren't I? Where is he, and why can't I get a hold of him?"

Some loud yelling from outside drew Hikaru's attention back to the windows. She stood from her squatting position on her dark blue carpet and glanced out the window beside her artist's desk. Sure enough, the majority of Yamada Manor's residents were enjoying the pool on that hot and humid day: Ryoko was swimming with Itsuki, who was clearly making herself a nuisance by splashing Ryoko as she came up for air, Akito was busy splashing his boyfriend Gai, and Izumi was actually relaxing on a lounge chair with her guitar. Hikaru noted that her pale skin was already looking a bit pink and she wondered if Izumi had bothered to put on any sunscreen, or if she had intended to get ferociously sunburned. Hikaru turned back to the window and jerked a thumb outside. "Apparently, they're all out at the pool. Akito probably didn't want to get his communicator all wet. Or, you know, he may have forgotten about it. We don't use them much, you know."

Rumiko nodded, surprisingly understandedly. "I know. I just couldn't think of another way to get a hold of him quickly and securely... well, considering..."

All of a sudden, Hikaru's mental warning flags began to wave. She narrowed her eyes once more. "What is this about, Rumiko? You know, Gai's not going to take it very well if you want to accuse Akito again, especially after the thing with Ruri--"

"Look, Miss Amano. I just need to talk to him. Now. Or right away. Whatever. Can you take your communicator to him and let me speak with him? It may be a matter of life or death."

Those words didn't just freeze Hikaru; it chilled her to the bone. "What happened?" she whispered, her voice dropping to a dull, hoarse level. "Oh Aer, did something happen to Ruri?"

"No! Not Ruri." Rumiko rubbed his temples with one hand. "Hikaru, please. I'm begging you. Take me down to Mister Tenkawa and let me talk to him. Please."

Hikaru nodded quickly and Rumiko breathed out a large sigh of relief. Hikaru snatched her communicator off her dresser and rushed out of her room, down the stairs, into the dining room and out of the house faster than she ever imagined doing so.

As soon as she stepped outside, Hikaru regretted not changing out of her yellow sweatshirt (Gai always kept the air conditioning on full-blast now, it seemed) before heading out into the sweltering heat that was typical for late July in Japan, but not typical for the old Satsuki Midori colony at Lagrange Point 2. As soon as she shut the wooden-and-glass door that led outside from the dining room, just about every head above water turned to her and the large communications window that followed her. Sweat almost instantly beaded on her upper lip. She cleared her throat. "Akito, Rumiko wanted to talk to you, and your communicator is still in your bedroom."

As expected, Gai's thick brown eyebrows instantly knit together, but Akito merely cocked his head in interest. He paddled is way to the edge of the pool and pulled himself out. Hikaru blushed as she saw the particular style of Akito's bathing suit, then turned her face away and covered her eyes. "Akito, please. Put on a robe or towel or something. Aer! Who told you that it was a good idea to wear that?"

"Gai did." Akito said nothing more before wrapping a large, gray-blue towel around his waist. He sat down in a chair and waved Hikaru over.

"Seriously, zebras have done nothing to warrant such an insult."

"Har, har."

"If we could move on to more important matters!" Hikaru hadn't even considered how Rumiko would take the sight, nor the exchange, but whether his face was red from embarrassment or anger was hard to tell, as it often was with the Ninlandish emperor. Hikaru rolled her eyes and tossed her communicator over to Akito, who caught it and tilted his head up at Rumiko in question. Rumiko's color faded a bit as he coughed to regain his composure. "Akito, I really, truly need your help. Peaceland needs your help."

Akito's back straightened as if he was hit by lightning. "Ruri. Gods above, Rumiko, if Ruri is hurt--"

"Ruri is fine. Everything went according to plan in regards to the princess's safety."

"'Plan'?" Gai cried as he pulled himself out of the pool as well. Hikaru was pleased to note that Gai was at least a bit more conservative about how much skin he showed his roommates, even if his shorts could reflect the sun's rays back at it. "You have a bit more explaining to do that that, Rumiko."

Rumiko growled under his breath at the sight and words of Akito's lover. "Magus, we don't have time for this! She could die while I'm busy placating you inquisitive imbeciles!"

Hikaru knew that the others would be too shocked and insulted to hear Rumiko's fear in his voice, so she worked to ease the tension before someone exploded at someone else. Again. "Rumiko, just tell Akito and the others what's going on and why you need his help. I'm sure he'll be happy to lend a hand if he just knows what's going on."

"Not fucking likely," Akito muttered under his breath, but said nothing more as Hikaru's dark gaze glared a new hole for him to spill the stupidities of his brain from.

Rumiko took a deep breath, and let it out in a sigh. "It's a relatively long story, but the short version is that we decided to set a trap for the Teleporter Killers by using the knowledge that they have been hitting people from all of the major nations and only those who were in some way related to those who were accused, usually just being the one accused. Megan and I regretted that it had taken Captain Misumaru's death to realize what the pattern was, but once we did, we had discovered that we had no choice but to falsely accuse Princess Notsumote Hoshino Ruri of Peaceland in order to draw the killers to her."

"Wait," Izumi interrupted. Her pink bikini almost disappeared against her pinkened, burned skin. "Ruri and Inez weren't working together?"

"No. We only wanted someone who would be a long shot as a murder suspect and could be easily protected until the murderers struck. Which... well... they did, this morning."

Everyone listening started. It was already a surprise to find that they had been duped in an elaborate ruse that had even fooled the system media, but to find out that their little plan had already worked was also just as surprising. And scary.

"Ruri is fine, you said?" Akito shot out, leaping to his feet.

"Yes. Everything in regards to protecting the princess went as according to plan. When Miss Won and Miss Onikirimaru Teleported into Peace Castle, Ruri herself Teleported away from them."

__

"Erina and Kaguya?" Nearly everyone shrieked. A flock of birds vacated a nearby tree with frightened fervor.

Izumi looked as if her pink knees had turned to the water she could command. "Not Inez?"

Rumiko licked his lips. "We're not sure as if Lady Ai isn't involved, but no, she was not part of the pair that stormed Peace Castle."

Hikaru bit her lip. As much as she knew it was important for Izumi to come to terms with her girlfriend possibly being innocent, even though everyone thought she was a murderer, Rumiko's previous words tugged at her. "If Ruri is okay... you said someone's life was in the balance."

"I did." Rumiko turned his gaze back to Akito as his black brows met. "All went according to plan in protecting the princess, but the queen... she was taken."

Akito visibly swallowed. "Ruri's mother is dead?"

"Not dead. At least, we hope not. In the confusion of being denied their true target, they kidnapped the Queen of Peaceland. They then Teleported with her out of Peace Castle."

"Where did they go?"

Rumiko closed his eyes. "This is why I need your help, Tenkawa Akito. Megan says they went to the ruins of the Utopia Colony."

Hikaru could practically hear their heartbeats. Akito barely blinked. "And other than Inez, I'm the only other Jumper left who knows the place like the back of my hand."

"Precisely."

Akito closed his eyes and took a slow, deep breath. Hikaru held hers as she watched Akito's Adam's apple, waiting for it to move. Finally, Akito opened his eyes, steeled himself before the Ninlandish emperor, and said softly, "All right. I'll go."

Rumiko seemed to sag in relief. "Of course, you can take anyone you think may help you. In fact, I recommend it. Anyone to help subdue Miss Won and Miss Onikirimaru and protect the queen. I'm not sure how you'd like to do this."

"Don't worry." Hikaru turned to see Ryoko running a hand through her two-colored hair. "I've got a few ideas."

Rumiko nodded slowly, knowing Ryoko's background. "Then I am entrusting this task and the fate of Peaceland's queen to you. Good luck." Rumiko's window then closed.

Akito sat back, ignoring the fact that his towel wasn't hiding his thighs anymore. "Well, Ryoko and I are definitely going, then."

Gai slapped a hand to his still-damp chest. "I am too."

Akito raised an eyebrow and Hikaru was sure she saw a bit of a glare haunt Akito's brown eyes, but he said nothing. He instead turned to Hikaru. "You?"

Hikaru nodded numbly. Ryoko was good at strategy and hand-to-hand. Akito was transportation, and Gai... well, who knew. She, on the other hand, was the strongest, magically. It made sense for her to go.

Itsuki bit her lip and looked to her lover. Ryoko, able to read the violet-haired violinist like a book, shook her head. "You don't have to come."

Itsuki smiled softly. "Thank you." Hikaru wanted to slap her in her perfect face. How come she was so ready to get out of helping out? Couldn't be bothered to break a nail? Hikaru felt a slight and welcome breeze drift through the air, until she realized she was the one causing it.

A warm hand touched her shoulder, though she could barely feel it through the thick material of the shirt. It was Izumi. Izumi looked away from her, ashamed by her words even as she said them. "If you're going to go..." Izumi glanced at the guest house. Jun's house.

Shit. Hikaru hadn't even thought of that. The redhead glanced back at her best friend. Izumi could command water, and while not as strong as Hikaru, she could easily douse any fire and calm the raging spirit that was the wronged Jun. Hikaru slowly nodded. "Take care of him for me." Izumi's lips curled ever so slightly into a rare smile, and she nodded.

Akito clapped his hands together. "Well then, kids, I suppose we should go and dress; Martian weather is a bit less roasting than Japanese summers." He then tossed Hikaru her communicator.

Hikaru caught it, and then held out her arms comically. "Thanks to Gai's romance with the AC, I'm good to go."

"Seriously, Hikaru, you can bite me."

"I don't think Akito would like that..."

"Hikaru." The soft voice caught Hikaru's attention more than a blow horn would. She spun on her heel and faced the doors to Jun's house, where the blue-haired songwriter stood with a cordless phone in his hand. He looked confused, but Hikaru couldn't help but notice the haunted look in his eyes. It was a look she had been fighting for weeks to expel. "There's someone on the phone for you."

Hikaru's heart caught in her throat. The call she was waiting for before Rumiko broke her concentration. The call that would determine her future as a manga artist. Half of her, okay, more than half of her wanted to run for that phone call and take it. But Rumiko's voice still rang in her head. _"It may be a matter of life or death." _Hikaru glanced at Akito, Ryoko, and Gai as they headed quickly into the house to bundle up for the chilly Martian atmosphere. She then looked to Izumi, who knew what the phone call was for. Izumi licked her lips and held her crimson eyes wide, but said nothing. Instead, Hikaru knew she was silently asking her, "What are you going to do?"

Hikaru knew what she wanted to do. But she also knew what she needed to do. She knew what was important. "Junny," she called out. "Ask them to call back later. I'm a bit busy now."

---

The fine, silver hairs on the back of Ariko's neck had risen about midafternoon and never quite relaxed, even as the afternoon had faded into nearly evening. Not that he could tell what time it was by the sun, of course. Yukina had drawn her lavender curtains closed and turned out all of the lights before the two of them settled on her bed to watch the "scary" movie that Minato had been kind enough to rent for them. Ariko was supposed to go home the day before, but the whole house-arrest thing kept him in Tokyo, and both Uribatake and Minato had agreed that keeping Ariko and Yukina together, if only so they could each have some company, was probably for the best. Ariko had, as a result, taken to sleeping on a spare futon on Yukina's floor.

The movie they were watching wasn't really that scary at all. It was just about some serial killer chasing around young girls that appeared to only be in danger when dressed in their underwear. Yukina hadn't restricted her vocal displeasure at this, and often covered her face, stuck out her tongue, or made disgusted noises whenever some girl was running away from her eminent death. She would also laugh gleefully when the girl got what she described as "what she deserved". Ariko wasn't really focused on the movie himself, really. He thought it was mildly boring and far too predictable. Instead, he couldn't help but think that the movie hit a little too close to home.

After all, the only reason he couldn't go home is because Ruri was accused--no, she admitted to doing those things--of murder. His big sister. Peaceland's heir.

To be sure, he could understand why they thought she may have done it. Ruri was close to Doctor Fressange, and they all thought she was involved. Also, Ruri was never really someone to just follow the rules. But murder seemed a bit too far. Still, Ariko didn't want to just blindly adhere to supporting his sister if it was even somewhat likely that she may have had something to do with those people's deaths. Which, as much as it pained Ariko to admit, even he could see was very likely.

Yukina paused the movie and then pulled herself up from lying on her belly. Her big and poofy white shirt stuck a bit under her knees, but as she pulled herself up to her feet and stepped over Ariko, it righted itself. She stepped onto the floor with a sigh and shook her head, her small ponytail held by a powder-pink bow just barely reaching her cheeks. "I'm going to head to the bathroom. Don't let the movie start up again without me." Before Ariko could nod in response, Yukina was bounding out of her room, her black house slippers nearly flying off her feet.

Ariko sighed. Yukina was definitely his best friend, and though he felt a bit pent up about his guilt and how he felt about this turn of events with his sister, he wasn't sure he could talk to Yukina about it. She was more into action or putting things into words. Usually hurtful ones. Yukina would probably want him to leave his life as a prince on account of the Peaceland heir being "corrupt" or something like that. Yukina just wasn't like him. She would say he thought too much, but he would probably say that she didn't think enough. He sighed again. Great. Now he felt guilty for looking at his best friend in such a way. He was certainly batting a thousand in the emotional stadium.

A soft blip sound drew his attention to the watch-like accessory at his wrist. It did indeed tell the time, to be sure, but it did much more than that. A small blue light flashed on it, signaling that someone was trying to make a connection. It wasn't an odd occurrence, at least nowadays. Even Uribatake and Minato had taken to speaking to each other through their communicators rather than bother with the telephone. The light blinked a few more times, accompanied by a series of beeps that told Ariko something a bit different. It was not going to tell him who was trying to connect with him before allowing him to choose whether or not accept them connection. This was the emergency line.

Not a moment later, the projector turned on and made a small window appear before Ariko's face, Ariko's silver brows drew together as he recognized the face in the little rectangle of light before him. "Ruri?" he whispered.

Ruri's form nodded once, and then licked her lips. "Ariko. I have some bad news to give you, and I don't have much time. Father is contacting Alfred and our brothers now."

"Oh, God, Ruri, have they decided to arrest you outright?" It meant a great deal to Ariko. It meant that he was going to have to begrudgingly become the heir again. It meant that he was going to lose his sister. And, probably the worst of them all, it meant that he was right to distrust his sister.

"What?" His assumption took her off-guard as she leaned back a bit, and then make a small O with her mouth as she realized what she meant. "Oh, no, Ariko. I was never a real suspect. This was all a trap. I was just the decoy, the bait to draw out the killers. It's a long story, but you have to believe me."

Ariko wanted to. Oh, how he wanted to. But could he? Really? "I don't understand."

"You don't have to." Ruri took a deep breath. "I was never really a suspect, and I'm not sure that Miss Fressange was either. But they know who the real killers are now."

__

That piqued Ariko's interest much more than everything else she had said. "What? Are you serious? Who are they?"

Ruri shook her head. "I don't have time to explain, Ariko. I just wanted to make sure that you knew: they didn't get to attack me, but they took Mother as a hostage."

It felt as if someone had rammed a freezing ice pick into his spine. His mother? Their mother? She was in the killer's hands, Ruri was saying. Oh, _God_. Ruri may not have ever gotten along with her or considered her a mother, but that was because Ruri was rich in mothers. Ariko only had one. And that one was in danger of being hurt. Or worse. God, Ariko didn't want to think about it. Instead, he swallowed. "What happens now?"

"The rest of the family is staying right where we are. Rumiko said that he got in touch with some people who could get where the killers went quickly and save Mother, and not lose the killers. It's all up in the air, right now."

Ariko reached for the remote, fumbling a bit, before turning the movie off entirely and searching frantically for a news station. "Thank you for telling me, Ruri. She... well... you never liked her but..."

"I know. Don't start talking about her in past tense yet, Ariko."

Ariko could help but smile, even as tears formed at the corners of his eyes. He was always the positive one that brought up others' spirits. Now Ruri was trying to do the same for him. How could he have ever thought her capable of murder? "Thank you, Ruri."

Ruri nodded her head, looked away for a moment, and then turned back. "I have to go." Just like that, her window was closed before Ariko could say goodbye.

As he was able to focus on finding the right channel on the television, he finally found a news station. He didn't recognize it for the logo, reportings of different time zones, or for the ticker of other news on the bottom. He recognized it for the sight of Peace Castle they were giving.

"--Kinjo Won, Chairwoman of Nergal Heavy Industries and Onikirimaru Kaguya, Chairwoman for Asuka Industries have both been identified by the heroic princess and all of her security as the killers here, and we have received reports that--"

"Hey, I said don't turn the movie on until I came back!" Yukina cried as she came in and plopped down on her bed again. She twisted her mouth to the side.

"I didn't. This is the news." Ariko swallowed. "Ruri just contacted me. She said they know who the real killers are now."

"Really?! Neat! Who is it?" Yukina took the remote from Ariko's hands and turned the volume up even higher.

"--Queen of Peaceland to the Utopia Colony on Mars, which had been destroyed during the First Battle of Mars by a falling Chulip--"

__

"Your mom?" Yukina shrieked, staring at Ariko.

He shook his head. He pointed at the television. "They said it was Miss Won and Miss Onikirimaru. Remember them? From the Gardenia?" Ariko felt his heart beat faster as he considered the possibilities. "They went to go and kill Ruri, but Ruri was able to escape. Instead... they... they took my mother." Ariko swallowed once more.

Yukina's eyes widened. "Are... are you serious?"

Ariko nodded his head, but said nothing more. If he did, he was sure he would start to sob.

Yukina didn't need his words, however; she used her own. _"Minato!"_ she cried out, not leaving the room this time.

Ariko was somewhat glad. He didn't think he wanted to be alone to worry about both his sister and his mother. Still, it would make him much happier if he just understood what was going on. What trap was Ruri talking about?

---

The first thought that entered Gwynth's head as she came back to consciousness was a complaint about how much her head throbbed. There were some traces of it stinging near the back of her skull, but mostly it was just a dull pain that radiated from the back of her head and back around to between her silver brows. Her second thought wasn't of the other small pains that plagued her, such as her shoulder that felt a bit like it had been wrenched out of its socket or her knees seemingly permanently bent and aching to be stretched out. Instead, her second thought was of why her head hurt so much, and why it was only now that she made the slow ascent into consciousness.

With a slight flutter of previously mascaraed eyelashes and a sharp intake of breath through the nose, Gwynth fought to pry open her mouth and lick her lips, but she could not. She opened her eyes as she realized what had happened: her mouth had been taped shut. Her wide blue eyes rolled all around her as she tried to relax her aching shoulder. She couldn't, of course; after all, her arms were also tied above her head with metal cord that bit into her skin as she struggled. The same cord was not only around her feet inside her long, black, and now somewhat ripped and dirtied skirt, but also at the opening of her dress. Gwynth tried to stretch her legs out, but with the cord tying off the end of the skirt, it was impossible.

She was able to determine from, looking around her, she was sitting on a steel floor that had been laden with red dust over a long period of time. It was a bit colder than expected, even compared to Peaceland's recent rainy and chilly summer weather it was suffering from. The whole area appeared to be a storehouse of some sort, with crates upon crates of... well, unimaginable merchandise, as the wind and flying dust over time had apparently rubbed away any markings as to the contents of the crates.

It was here that her eyes slid over one of her captors.

Erina Kinjo Won, dressed in a small black dress with a pink sweater, was seated upon one of the crates, her legs elegantly crossed at the knees. Despite the red dust and the slight wind, her appearance was immaculate, from her lengthened black hair down to her painted lips, which turned up. She patted the crate she sat upon. "Dried pork," she announced, hopping down and landing on her black heels. "It's amazing, the Martians' methods of preserving food. Most of this will last for years, if not decades. Of course, Mars is no place to be raising any sort of crops or cattle; at least, not yet. They would need to ship in food from Earth and stockpile it like a bunch of squirrels."

Mars. No wonder this felt so much more different from Peaceland; they had taken Gwynth to another planet entirely. She narrowed her blue eyes at Erina. This woman had come into her country, her castle, and told her that she had no say over what her own daughter was to do, even if she wasn't quite the age of majority yet. It was a ridiculous notion that, simply because there was one day left of Ruri being in Nergal's custody, she was able to put Ruri in danger.

Gwynth's mind froze. In danger of being killed by Erina herself. Gwynth's narrowed eyes lost their rage as she knit her brows together in confusion. Erina knew it was a trap. Why did she agree to have the trap be set up if she would be the one to trip it? Unless she didn't want it to look suspicious. It didn't make sense.

Gwynth remembered her capture. The bright flash followed by another, and where once was Ruri and her robotic friend were now Erina and a stranger. At their frustration at missing Ruri, they had taken her instead, clubbing her over the head with a handle of... something. Gwynth wasn't sure she wanted to know.

But here was Erina. Where was the other woman? Gwynth's eyes had trouble focusing in the low light, but eventually, on a far wall, she saw a woman collapsed on the ground, sitting in a heap with her limbs curled around her protectively. A cord much like the ones at Gwynth's hands, feet, and skirt circled her neck and bound her to a ring on the wall. Gwynth knew she couldn't make words, and grunting was far below her, but grunt she did, trying to get the other woman's attention. It was clear to the Queen of Peaceland that this woman was no accomplice. Instead, she was a prisoner.

The woman's ears seemed to perk up, and she lifted her head. Gwynth was horrified to find that, under that curtain of violet hair, the aqua green eyes underneath appeared to be very much dead.

"Kaguya!" Erina snapped. The woman jumped, as if being brought to attention against her will. "Kaguya" must be the woman's name. "Are they coming yet?"

Kaguya paused with an ear to the air, as if listening for something. "They come as we speak."

Erina's painted lips curved tightly. "Good. Perhaps then, the time is at hand."

Gwynth felt sweat bead on her pale brow, even in the chilly wind that seemed to make her shiver all the way down to her bones. She didn't know who was coming, or what was going to happen, but she would not predict it to be a pleasant experience.

---

The familiar pull at his bones and guts stopped, which Akito knew was the sign to open his eyes. His palms were sweaty in Ryoko's and Gai's hands, but had more to do with the nervousness of what was to take place than the Jump itself.

Akito was the first person on record to achieve a manned Boson Jump. Previously to that, Jumping was deemed unsafe for life to travel through. Of course, Akito knew that he wasn't the first. Jumping was an art achieved by Martians deep in the past, achievable by recent Martians, and achievable by some Ninlanders and most, if not all, Jupiterians. Inez Jumped a few times as a girl, and Genichiro and Tsukumo both Jumped to Japan from Jupiter in the first Jovian experiment. Still, Akito was considered an expert when it came to Jumping, for some strange reason. He really wasn't. He hadn't been trained like Yurika and Kaguya. He simply knew how to do it.

It wasn't his "expertise" in Jumping that brought them all to Mars that day, anyway. It was the fact that, out of all those alive today, Akito was one of the few that could easily Jump to the Utopia Colony. He'd grown up there and lived there most of his life. He'd never forget the place. As he glanced around himself, he could tell that, while he had arrived at the right place and time, his mental image of the Utopia Colony was much different from the current one. The last time he was here, the place had appeared devastated from Jovian attacks, not to mention the leftovers from the First Battle of Mars. Battered machinery had littered the red, dusty ground, and a large crater had covered the area from the Nadesico's distortion fields and from the impact of the Chulip.

Well, that at least was still in the distance. It was the only recognizable thing, it appeared. Now, buildings had been erected: warehouses, factories, laboratories, government buildings, and even homes. Akito felt it pluck his heartstrings and he narrowed his eyes. He knew that people were trying to repopulate Mars after it had been laid to waste during the war but... they didn't have to start here.

"'Kito?" Akito was thrown out of his thoughts as he looked over his shoulder. Gai was staring at him, his arms crossed.

Akito licked his lips. "Yeah?"

Gai looked to the side and shifted from foot to foot. He had something to say, but didn't want to say it. Akito didn't understand why. Gai was never a closed-lip person. He faced Ryoko and Hikaru, who were looking around and trying to look inconspicuous. Gai turned his gaze from the girls to the ground under his blue sandals. Gai's feet would have been freezing if not for the orange socks that made Akito wrinkle his nose in disgust. "So... this is where you grew up."

Akito nodded. Of course; Gai was thought to be dead when they finally reached Mars during the Lizard War. Even so, though the Nadesico had come to just outside the Utopia Colony, Akito, Megumi, and Inez were the last living people to come to the Utopia Colony before this new collection of colonists. Akito knew it was irrational, but he hated them for it. Mars was a sacred place to him. "Yeah. Me and Yurika..." Akito narrowed his eyes and kept his gaze fixed on the red-and-pink horizon. It was sunset soon. Then it would be even colder. Akito shivered at the thought, and didn't know why. He grew up in this place, with this air and dirt and weather. He didn't grow up with these specific people, but with those very much like them. After all, even his own parents were colonists, even if it was for science. Yurika had been born on Mars, but both of her parents had been Earth-born.

Gai swallowed. "And Kaguya."

Akito closed his eyes. They were here to "take care of" Erina and Kaguya. They had been the ones causing all of this trouble. They killed Yurika. They tried to kill Ruri. Gai was right; Akito had grown up with, not just Yurika, but Kaguya as well. It was so easy to forget, since Kaguya left long before even Yurika had, and Yurika had left when the two of them were both still very young. Not to mention that it had been, of course, subject to the Memory Glitch. All of his time with Kaguya on Mars had been accidentally replaced with a memory of an afternoon bike ride with Yurika. A memory that had been fake, and all because he was an avid Jumper. It made Akito wary of Jumping, even though it came to him as easy as breathing. What would he forget with this latest Jump?

Still, though he couldn't remember much of Kaguya, he did remember her telling him to take care of Yurika. Or... she had reminded him of that, when they first met up with her again. She had to leave and go back to Earth, even though she had been born on the red planet. Kaguya and Yurika had been best friends, even though they always seemed to fight. That was just their way. When it came down to it, they were friends, and very close.

Time had separated them, of course, but from all of this, Akito could not believe that Kaguya had killed Yurika. He believed it just as much as he believed Ruri capable of the same act. But he also knew that Erina was involved, and he didn't doubt for a second that Erina was in fact behind Yurika's death. She was, after all, a raging bitch in Akito's eyes.

A hand on his arm startled him, and he found himself staring into a pair of blue eyes curtained with two-colored hair. Ryoko narrowed her dark brows at him. "You okay?"

"Yeah. Just... nostalgic."

Ryoko nodded. "I don't blame you, but now isn't really the time." When Akito began to glare at her, she held up a hand. "We're here to capture those who killed our captain and to save Ruri's mother."

Akito bit his lip. Ryoko was right, of course, but it still hurt. Akito shook his head. Ryoko was right. There was someone's life on the line. Memories about his home and his childhood friends shouldn't have let him forget that. "Right. So what's the plan?"

"Hikaru's already searching for signatures, but I'd like to keep us close to her. It's possible that she may get herself in big trouble going alone. Besides, you can help."

"I can?" Akito had never seen a signature in his life, let alone read one.

"Yeah, can't you Martians, like, sense the use of Bose particles in an area?"

Akito wrinkled his nose. "Isn't that stereotyping us a bit?"

"Maybe, but I remember Yurika doing it once." Ryoko coughed; Akito was about to instinctively explain about nanomachines in the air, but she interrupted him before he could open his mouth. "Just try, okay?"

Akito rolled his eyes. This was about as likely as being able to throw a rock onto Ninlan from here. Sense Bose particles? Was he some kind of superhero, now?

---

For the last week--nearly two weeks, really--Hikaru had been questioning the usefulness of that one morning she had offered her extra set of hands to Rumiko and Megumi. It had caused more unpleasantness than she was normally willing to handle, what with having to confront and effectively push away Itsuki, her best friend's girlfriend, and possibly anger or endanger her other male friends. But as Hikaru had seen now, it had been a necessary lesson in seeing and reading signatures, something that, now, she would never give up to anyone.

After all, it was what led her to the warehouse.

Not entirely, of course. Rumiko and even Megumi were far more skilled when it came to dealing with the leftover residue from Jumping or using magic, even to the point of being able to recognize one from a very far distance. Hikaru, on the other hand, simple looked for what she knew may signify a signature: large, sparkly patches of condensed particles (which, being far smaller than microscopic, were nearly impossible to find anyway). Hikaru had expected that Mars would be full of such things, but it was not. The only shine she saw were small clumps of particles that she supposed came from Jumps from long ago. As her eyes passed over what appeared to be a light blue speck against the reddened sky, she wondered if it was a remnant from when Akito Jumped from Mars to Earth just as the Lizard War was starting. It was possible, she considered, but not entirely likely. Akito was only one of many, many Martians throughout history that had the power to Jump, even if they didn't quite understand the ability. It could have come from any of them, from the first Ninlandish settlers that built the computer that made Boson Jumping possible, to the last Martians that had been killed during the Lizard War.

For being the descendants of Earthling colonists, Hikaru had to admit that Martians had a glorious culture that she doubted even Jupiterians could compete with. Hikaru would have never found the warehouse without Akito tapping into that glorious culture, in any case. After some loud complaining on his part and a bit of bickering between him and Hikaru's best friend Ryoko, he started to lead the way to where Erina and Kaguya may have been keeping the Peaceland queen. As he began to flare his nostrils and tilt his head to the strong Martian winds, his complaining changed subject from how ridiculous this was to how this was nearly impossible with the Chulip so close by. Still, he led the way, with Hikaru trailing behind him closely so that she wouldn't miss anything he looked at or noticed, just in case he didn't quite know what to look for.

And, good Lady, he didn't. He almost walked right past the warehouse and would have headed straight for the Chulip if Hikaru hadn't stopped him. She couldn't sense Bose particles like Ryoko had suspected that Akito could, but she had had enough time to recognize what was _not_ considered a signature on Mars. On Earth, a signature could be any sparking of magical residue. On this planet, the air was simply rife with magical residue from centuries--no, millennia--of magic use or Boson Jumping. So when she saw that the large, gun-metal building was practically shining silver, Hikaru knew that it was much more than those puny, quick-to-fade signatures of Earth. Without a word, she pointed in its direction.

Gai's eyebrows knit as his forehead muscles clenched. "What is that?" He glanced to Akito, who had been shaking his head to clear it.

"It's a storage building. We usually kept things in there that we couldn't make or grow here ourselves. Products usually, but sometimes some food. Not everyone could handle the taste of Martian-grown foods in the wrong hands, so some paid extra to have preserved food shipped. Of course, things like cardboard boxes, paper, or toilet paper and paper towels could be in there. We don't exactly have trees, you know."

"'We', Akito? You'd think you lived back here for the past couple of years." Ryoko's smile was fake, Hikaru knew. If it was one thing that Ryoko's time with Izumi and Hikaru had taught the tomboy, it was that pain and worries were best hidden behind smiles and talents.

Akito rolled his eyes. "I could live on the Nadesico or at Yamada Manor, but my home will always be my dear red planet."

Ryoko nodded, the false smile fading. "Well, are we ready to take care of this?" Ryoko was answered with silence. This wasn't just helping Rumiko and Megumi out like Hikaru had offered, even begged to do. This was... everything. Justice for those who may not have deserved it, such as Kusakabe Haruki, the mastermind behind the Jupiterian forces during the Lizard War. Justice for those who most definitely deserved it: Aqua Crimson, the foolish girl that had been Gai and Itsuki's childhood friend; Mythos Entrada, former emperor of Ninlan and one of Rumiko's closest advisors; Yurika, who meant more to all of them, and even more to Jun, than anyone had ever thought. It was the final act to help and give relief to Jun, who had lost the one person he loved more than anything in the world to these monsters. It was for Izumi, who had worried and fretted over her girlfriend Inez's safety as people were convinced of her guilt in this act. It was to save the woman that hated them for not who they were, but what they could do, but was mother to one of their own. It was for Ruri, who had, according to Rumiko, selflessly offered herself up for bait. It was for Rumiko and Megumi, who had done almost nothing else but chase these elusive, phantom killers.

It was for all of them, and more.

Hikaru met Ryoko's blue eyes with her own dark brown ones. She slowly slid them closed as she nodded, just once. She reopened them to Ryoko's smile. It wasn't fake, but neither was it in humor; instead, it was a grim grin of the battlefield. While she was not clothed in a giant robot, Ryoko was just as ready as anyone could possibly be to face danger, the possibility of having another's blood on her hands, and the slight chance that they may win in the face of adversity.

It was a face that had led Hikaru into the fight many times before, and the redhead knew it would do it again.

"All right. Akito and I go in first. Hikaru, get yourself charged up. Yamada, you're all distraction until Akito can get to the queen. Everything clear?"

---

Gai's part in the attempt to subdue and capture those that the entire world now believed had killed the Jupiterian vice admiral, the Australian businesswoman, the former Ninlandish emperor, and the Martian captain had been, in his eyes, miniscule at the most when it had been decided. Since he had only decided to come to make sure that Akito would be safe, and he was only a mediocre magic-user (and, he assumed, Jumper), he didn't really think about how he might be any sort of hindrance. Akito was needed for transportation, as the only natural Jumper among them and the only one who could easily Jump to the Utopia Colony. Ryoko was needed as she was excellent in hand-to-hand combat, a tactic she often used and presented in her Aestivalis during the Lizard War. Hikaru was, clearly, the only one of them with any training in recognizing signatures and the magically strongest of them all. It made sense for all of them to be here, doing this. Gai? Not so much. But he knew that he couldn't just stay home and wait while he let Akito go off and put himself in danger. Gai was obsessive, possessive, and highly protective, but he couldn't help it. Akito was his treasure, and he didn't want to lose him.

As it turned out, Gai wasn't completely useless, to his surprise. The doors to the warehouse that Hikaru had insisted was where Erina and Kaguya had been hiding out with their capture were, of course, bolted and locked tight. They didn't even bend to a kick from Ryoko's booted foot. Gai cringed at the sound which he was sure would make Erina and Kaguya Jump right out of the warehouse. Ryoko glanced at her right hand and Gai could have sworn he saw her nanocontroller flash the green of her patron God of Earth.

He must not have been imagining things, as Akito's hand slapped over her own. "No. Mars hasn't shaken in ages; who knows what a marsquake would do." Akito licked his lips. "I don't know what it looks like in there, but I can try to Jump us in there..." Akito's unspoken worries were clear; he could accidentally Jump them anywhere in the universe, and at any time. Gai clenched his hands. It wasn't a fate he wanted to fall victim to, or one he would wish on Akito or any of his friends.

A shiver climbed from the back of Gai's neck and down his spine. He raised his right fist and slowly opened it. He was surprised to find that the nanocontroller was shining the light orange color that was specific to him. Between his fingers, the small bolts of the lightning he had found he could control traced up and down the phalanges. If he were to reclench his hand into a fist, the energy would be reabsorbed into himself and would reawaken his senses. Instead, he held all of his fingers together, flattening his hand. As he held it palm up, the lightning danced up and around the skin of his palm, tickling it and awakening it in a way that he hadn't thought of using before.

Hikaru was the first to notice his experiments. As she had taken on the role of Gai's magic teacher when Rumiko fell ill during the Nadesico's stay on Ninlan, she caught Gai's gray-brown eyes with her own and nodded him on, moving Ryoko and Akito out of the way of the door. Gai walked carefully towards the door, his sandals crunching the sand beneath his soles. As he stood as close to the door as he dare, he slowly turned his hand toward the door, extending the touch of his hand, mentally, to the crease in the doors.

To his expectation, and yet prideful surprise, the bolt he had formed in his hand reached slowly but surely toward the crease. Once it had made contact, the doors shuddered with the sudden introduction of electricity to their conductive surfaces. The bolt reached between the locked doors and began to travel down, the heat melting the edges of the doors. Finally, it came down to a thicker piece of metal on the inside. Gai gritted his teeth and sent forth a few more pulses to shock, heat, and eventually melt his way through the barricade. As he felt the end of his bolt, almost an extension of himself now, reach open air instead of being encased in hot and melting metal, he let the bolt escape his grip, thanking it for its help. Once free of its master, the bolt flung the doors open. They clanged loudly as they crashed against the inside walls of the warehouse.

Gai had not forgotten his dealt-out duty to provide distraction and chaos while the true plan was carried out. He simply hoped that his blowing open of the doors had aided him in that goal. As soon as he let go of the bolt that had helped him open the barricaded doors, he began calling up more of the inherent electricity around him: from the static that traveled through the air constantly, to the energized particles from his friends' and his own clothing. Once he had all that he was sure he needed, he was more than prepared to let them all loose in a lightning storm that would be calculated enough to not harm the Peaceland queen, but chaotic enough to hopefully confuse the two Jumper murderers enough to make everyone else's job easier.

While the pressure building within him to let loose all of his collected static made all of his muscles twitch and all of the hair on his body stand up on end, he didn't dare let it loose. For, as the dust began to clear, they all saw a sight that stopped them in their tracks.

Queen Gwynth Notsumote of Peaceland was held in front of Erina Kinjo Won by her shoulders, with an obscenely large knife at her throat. It was then that Gai knew that all of their plans had gone up in smoke.

Gai wondered how much of their dismay was written on their faces as Erina's own painted lips twisted into a horrific smile. A soft chuckle vibrated from her throat, a grotesque sound that grated on Gai's ears and nerves. The chuckles turned into laughter as Erina's smile cracked and she nearly broke her neck in throwing her head back. Her laughing finally slowed as words came laced with the gleeful explosions. "Isn't it amazing... how when you think everything will turn out right... it doesn't?"

Ryoko was the first to put her hands up to show her surrender. Gai was surprised; defeat wasn't something that came naturally to the competitive tomboy. But, then again, lives weren't normally on the line. Ryoko swallowed harshly and licked her lips. "Okay, Erina. You've clearly outsmarted us. I suppose then that you and Kaguya will be off to find another place to hide out until someone offers up Ruri in exchange?"

Gai felt a shiver that came from his pressurized electricity, but he didn't let it go. The slightly chilly air swirled around them with a tight ferocity that Gai had only imagined would plague the Martian countryside. It whipped through their hair and rustled Gwynth's extravagant skirts.

Erina smirked. "Oh, Ryoko. You had almost impressed me. You're right; because of you idiots coming here, I've sent Kaguya out to find a new place and time that is convenient to wait out the manhunt. And yes, we originally had no intent of taking, or even harming, the poor queen of Peaceland." Gai caught her words and slowly brought his hands together, focusing on trickling out the restrained power within him into his hands. Erina caught the movement and held the knife ever closer to Gwynth's throat. Sweat began to bead on the pale skin of the queen face as she squeaked out against her gag in terror. She narrowed her eyes at Gai. "But don't think for a moment that we won't do it."

Gai lowered his hands to his sides and absorbed the power back within him, feeling the adrenaline rush that followed such an act. It made his senses all the more aware of his surroundings. He could smell the slightly iron tang of the Martian air, the expensive perfume fading quickly from the queen's skin. He could see the individual hairs blowing in the fierce winds, feel it draw away his own sweat that was inspired by anxiety rather than by temperature. Most importantly, he noticed the slight movement to his right. He turned his head slowly and looked out the corner of his eye.

Mars had always been famous for its winds. Even with the nanomachines in the atmosphere to stabilize it, the windstorms on Earth were nothing to compare them to. He didn't just know this from learning it in school; he had Akito to remind them at length, whenever they complained about the weather, that at least it wasn't a Martian dust storm. So when the winds had blown into the warehouse and struggled to rip the hairs from their scalps and the clothes from their bodies, he had no idea that it was, in fact, Hikaru's doing until he saw her eyes squint and widen rhythmically and the fingers of her right hand twiddle in the air.

"Then what is it that you want?" Akito asked. He had caught on to Ryoko's lead and was trying to talk his way through it. Perhaps they had both realized what was happening with Hikaru's winds before Gai had and were trying to buy time. Maybe they had been hoping to get a story out of her before they were to abandon the rescue altogether. Gai had no idea, as he didn't have Yurika's power of mind-reading and -control. He wished he did, at this point.

"Funny you ask that, Akito. Ryoko was right; I do want someone in exchange for this royal bitch. Could you possibly guess who?"

"Ruri," Gai blurted out, determined to help Hikaru out by drawing attention away from her and help her get as much time to do... whatever it was she was doing.

Erina rolled her dark eyes. "No. Ryoko already guessed that, and she was dead wrong. Instead, I wanted you, Akito." She pointed her chin at the Martian, who merely narrowed his eyes. Gai couldn't help it; as soon as Erina's voice cracked out his name, his heart began to beat so hard he thought it would burst. He placed his hands on Akito's shoulders. He had no idea that he was still so very statically charged, and when his hands clapped onto Akito's shoulders, the cook shivered, drawing Erina's eyes to them. Her knife quickly left Gwynth's throat and the queen of Peaceland promptly shuddered and then went limp in Erina's arms. While Erina struggled to hold up the passed-out woman and point her thirsty knife in Akito's direction, a slight silver flash erupted in the room._ "Don't touch him! Only I may touch him!"_ Erina shrieked, her voice taking on a shrill tone that Gai hadn't imagined Erina's voice to be capable of, even in distress.

Everything that happened after Erina's cry happened so quickly, Gai was hardly sure what had happened first. He was somewhat certain that it was Hikaru's workings finally coming to a head. With a calculated and barely noticeable flick of her wrist, the knife flew out of Erina's hand, embedding itself deeply into a nearby crate marked "Smoked Chicken". Gai was so surprised by the act that he couldn't help but let his jaw sag and his head turn towards Hikaru, whose hands trembled with the effort she had just exerted. Gai's gaping at the redhead artist nearly made him miss the emergence of the second half of the murdering team; Kaguya wrung her hands as she walked around a large stack of crates. "Erina..." her voice was far whinier than it had been when he last saw the girl, at Rumiko and Megumi's wedding. "I don't think we can go anywhere else-- Oh!" Her hands flew to her mouth and her aqua green eyes widened. It was odd; she had been childhood friends with Yurika and somehow had the same eye color. "They... they're here already!"

"Yes, they are, you stupid Jumper!" Erina spat at the girl, her grip on the fainted queen slipping as she slid to the floor of the warehouse along with the seemingly heavy woman. "It took you long enough. Now either get us out of here, or do something about this!"

Kaguya looked at her hands helplessly. "But I... I can't..."

Gai took advantage of the situation to finally release the built-up pressure within. With a sharp pulse of energy, he ripped his hands from Akito's shoulders and raised them up to the ceiling, palms up and fingers spread. From his digits erupted bolt after bolt of his electric powers, shooting for the ceiling, tracing the metal panels and then streaking through the warehouse by reaching for the floor. Gai made sure that the bolts separated the two partners in crime. Kaguya cried out in fright or pain and covered her head with her arms. Erina snarled at the bolts, not letting go of Gwynth for anything.

Ryoko was the first to take care of that, dodging the twining lightning strikes that rained from the warehouse ceiling as she ran up to the dark-haired businesswoman and punched her precisely in the face, just at the cheekbone. A loud crack did not knock the older woman unconscious, but it certainly shocked her enough to loosen her grip on the Peaceland queen.

Gai could have sworn he saw four yellow walls box in Erina from grabbing hold of Gwynth once again. Hikaru took a few shaky steps forward and held her hands as still as she could. "Now, Akito!" she whispered under her breath. Gai was shocked. If those walls were Hikaru's doing, she was much stronger than he had ever imagined, especially since she was in control over such a flimsy power as the wind.

Akito was not one to delay, especially if he knew someone needed saving. He rushed over to the queen's side as soon as Gai had marked a path for him by keeping his lightning far from the area between the fry cook and the queen. He took her hand in his hands, holding it as he bowed his head and knit his brows, concentrating on taking the queen back to Peaceland.

"Wait! No! Take me with you!" Kaguya stood up on shuddering legs and sprinted over to the queen's side as well. She barely reached Akito's side before he Jumped out of the warehouse, but make it she did, her hands gripping his shoulders in the exact same way Gai's hands had been just a moment before. In a flash of light blue, Akito, Gwynth, and Kaguya were gone.

Gai roared in anger, though he wasn't sure what made him more upset: the fact that they had lost one of the people they were supposed to catch or his jealousy of Kaguya touching Akito in such an intimate way. Either way, his lightning struck the floor from the ceiling with an increased fervor until he felt a feminine hand on his arm. Hikaru. He could barely hear her words over the growling and grumbling thunder that accompanied his lightning, but her words were the wind in his ear. "No good will come from this. Leash it, before you fry us all."

Gai bit his lip. Hikaru was not one to argue with when it came to this; she was their resident expert. Thanking all of the residual electricity, he bade it farewell, instructing it to either dissipate or make itself useful to the new settlers of Mars. It took only a mere moment for the roaring and cracking to cease entirely, and for the room to be empty of his mad lightning. The iron-infused air of Mars was lacking in its natural smell; instead, the scent of ozone turned Gai's nose wrinkled.

Erina lay subdued on the floor, her arms held down by the sheer strength of Ryoko's muscles. Erina gasped and arched her back, fighting Ryoko, but it was halfhearted. It did not appear that Erina wanted to get away; it simply looked as if she wanted free from Ryoko's grip. With tears in her voice and running down her cheeks, the businesswoman pleaded with the green-and-black-haired tomboy. "Please, let me up. I won't run off, I promise. I just want up. I've been restrained for so long, don't do it to me again. Please."

Ryoko's dark brows were knit as Hikaru and Gai came over and crouched beside her. Ryoko glanced between the two of them. "Any idea what the hell this broad is talking about?"

Gai had to shake his head. Hikaru copied his motion, also shrugging. Erina still pleaded, now looking to both Gai and Hikaru. "Please, you don't understand. As long as she's free, no one is safe. I'm begging you, just listen to me. I can help you. I know what she does, and how she does it. Oh god, just listen to me!"

Hikaru frowned. "Do you think she's gone nuts?"

Ryoko shrugged curtly. "I have no idea. I don't think it's a good idea to let her up until Akito gets back though."

Gai nodded. "I agree with that." Gai bit his lip. He didn't voice his worries about Akito going alone. Or, rather, his worries about Akito _not_ going alone. He had accidentally taken Kaguya with him, after all. Kaguya, who had been transportation for this woman underneath his sister's girlfriend. Kaguya, who had helped in the killing of Kusakabe Haruki, Aqua Crimson, Mythos Entrada, and Yurika.

Hikaru smiled at Gai. "Gai-chan, I'm proud of you! You did a great job today."

Gai's worries were not so quickly swept away, but he let them sit on the back burner as he grinned sheepishly at his friend. "You think so?"

"Yeah! Much better than I expected!"

Ryoko grunted. "Yeah, way to outdo yourself, Yamada." She grunted again. "Seriously, Erina's getting antsy. Could you guys sit on her legs or something to make her not kick and squirm?"

Hikaru nodded and leisurely walked over, straddling Erina's ankles before plopping on them. Gai winced; it was a good thing Hikaru hadn't been skimping on the ice cream lately, otherwise, Erina's legs would have hurt a lot worse. Gai had been the victim of Hikaru's bony ass more than he would have liked in his lifetime.

Gai jumped when an unrecognizable male voice called out from behind the crates to his right. "You know, if I didn't know the circumstances surrounding this little pose of yours, girls, I would think it was very hot indeed."

---

It had been quite a long time since Akito had been in Peaceland, let alone Peace Castle. At least, it felt like a long time for him. It had been long enough that he could barely remember what any of the rooms looked like, which was, as he would be the first to admit, dangerous for him to Jump to under those circumstances. Nonetheless, he did his best to prove his worth as a naturally-born Jumper while carrying not one, but a surprise two people back across the system from Mars to Earth, without a drastic change in time. And as the colorful and colorless expanse of the fabric of time's underside faded back into the inappropriately gaudily colored entrance hall of Peace Castle, Akito finally took a greedy breath. He always held his breath during Jumps; he was never quite sure what would happen if he sought air while coursing through the paths underneath the physical world.

He also took a breath because what happened just before the Jump hit him like a speeding cement truck. The hands still gripped his shoulders tightly, as if afraid to let go. Akito let the queen's hand slip from his fingers and slowly reached up to touch them, to grip them, to pull them off of him.

These were the hands that aided in Yurika's death.

He never got a chance for such an action, as he was immediately swarmed with people, including quite a few policemen and policewomen who descended upon Kaguya and yanked her away, quickly restraining her. Frederick was one of the first to rush over and fall to his knees at the sight of his prone wife. His face was red as he took her frail hands into his own enormous ones. He looked at Akito with tear-filled eyes, and it took Akito a moment to realize that he wanted to know if his wife was still among the land of the living. Akito opened and closed his mouth a few times before he wordlessly nodded. He swallowed. "She just fainted."

Frederick's eyes overspilled and Akito was afraid he was going to hug him, which even he had to admit was an incredibly inappropriate thing to be afraid of after facing down two murderers and having one cling to his back as he traveled millions of miles across time and space instantaneously. Frederick sniffed and simply placed a hand on Akito's shoulder, however. "If you were born here in Peaceland rather than Mars, I would knight you right this minute."

Akito smiled, but it was humorless. "If I had been born in Peaceland, Your Majesty, I wouldn't have been able to save your wife." Frederick smiled back, and then scooped up his far-too-thin wife into his great arms and took her away, clearly happy to have her back with him, and safe. Akito sighed, his emotions conflicted. He was glad to have been able to stop Erina and Kaguya from one act of violence against another, but while he had been able to save Gwynth, who hated Jumpers, he hadn't been able to help Aqua, who was only a little crazy, or Yurika, who he had once harbored feelings for. He was glad, and proud of himself and his friends, but--

His _friends_. His heart pattered a little faster in his chest.

A pale hand reached down, offering to help him up. Akito gratefully took it and pulled himself to his feet. His mouth slackened and his eyebrows knitted together when he found himself face to face with his former magic teacher. Rumiko pushed his glasses up his nose and hooked a loose strand of raven-black hair behind a fair ear. He narrowed his amber eyes and licked his lips, clearly struggling with what to say, and how. Finally, he steeled his face stiff and clapped a hand on Akito's shoulder. "You did good today, Tenkawa."

Akito knew that. He didn't want to be narcissistic, but he _knew_ that. What about Ryoko, Hikaru, _Gai_? "Kaguya?" he asked, swallowing the rising lump back down into his chest.

"Properly restrained, under constant watch, and currently going through preliminary questioning. 'How long have you been aiding Erina Kinjo Won?' and so on and so forth." A relatively tall man with long blonde hair stepped up beside Rumiko and nodded his head quickly at both the Ninlandish emperor and Akito (a pathetic excuse of a bow if Akito had ever seen one) before sticking his hand out to Akito. "Takasugi Saburota. I don't believe I've had the honor of your acquaintance as of yet."

Akito narrowed his eyes at him, looking him up and down to find out just who this guy was (Aqua forbid that he be a reporter of some sort). "Tenkawa Akito."

"As if I didn't know!" Saburota said with a slight sarcastic chuckle. He scratched the back of his head and shifted his weight from foot to foot. "Look, Tenkawa-san, I'm sorry about turning up all of that Martian suspicion a couple months back."

Akito narrowed his eyes once more and searched the broad face, wondering just what in the name of hell he was taking about. Finally, it clicked. The statement Inez had to make about how narrowing the killers' Jumper down to Mars-born didn't narrow it down at all. The immediate blaming of Yurika for Mythos Entrada's murder. The suspicion of Akito and Inez when Yurika herself turned up dead. His teeth set themselves together as his lips turned up into a snarl. "You--"

"Save your anger for later. Right now, we have to find out where Erina is. Kaguya isn't talking about that, though she is blathering on and on about how Erina forced her to Jump her where she asked."

Akito's mind could barely focus. There was the worry about his friends, who he had left with Erina (who Kaguya was claiming was the violent one of the pair); the anger at this... this... this _guy_ who had made it difficult to live as a Martian in a frightened world; and the relief at saving one life from the hands of those who had taken so many others. He looked at the shiny wooden floor beneath his feet as he felt a shiver creep up his spine: a shiver of chills. He was jolted out of his mental confusion by Takasugi grasping him and holding him still and looking at him in his dark brown eyes. He did not grasp his shoulders, as everyone else that day had been, but instead he wrapped his large hands around his arms. Although smaller than Akito's, Saburota's eyes were just as intense, especially as he narrowed them and knit his oddly dark eyebrows. "Tenkawa, we need Erina. If Kaguya is right, she's the one who wanted to kill all of those people. We need to find her. Where is she?"

"O-o-on Mars. Utopia Colony. Aqua, my friends--"

Saburota shook his head. "Don't worry about that now. I need you to take me there so we can get a hold of her. I would go myself," Akito looked down to notice a spring-green nanocontroller at his right hand, "but I've never been there."

Akito licked his lips and nodded quickly. His hands rose up to grip the sleeves of Saburota's red raincoat and he squeezed his eyes shut tightly. Picturing the cold, windy, dusty landscape of Mars, the warehouse full of food for the latest wave of Martian settlers that did not have the correct palettes for Mars's bitter fruits and vegetables and other such odd cuisine choices. His friends. He needed to save them now. He had stupidly, stupidly left them alone with the most violent person alive in their world.

---

"It all ended rather uneventfully. Tenkawa Leapt us to the right place, but certainly not the right time. We were there a good three-and-a-half hours too early. I swear to Terra, it was because he was so worried about his friends. We had to hide behind some crates and I practically had to hold my breath. You know how my nose tends to run when it's cold out, Mari?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, Mars is more than cold. I've never been at the Utopia Colony, and I knew that the North Pole was cold, but I had no idea the whole planet was like that. Not to mention that I had discovered that Tenkawa wasn't helping with his breaking out from nervousness. So my nose started running and dripping all nasty-like, and every time my sniffing made any noise at all, Tenkawa looked like he was going to gut me himself. It's not like I could help it."

"You should have just let your nose drip. God, what were you thinking?"

"That I didn't want snot all over my face. Anyway, I was sure we were had when I thought I saw Kaguya look our way, but I remembered what she said about being forced into this, and I held my finger to my mouth, and she nodded. I guess she understood, since she didn't rat us out or anything, thank Terra."

"So if you were so early, what happened?"

Saburota smiled and proceeded to preen, literally picking up white threads from his shirt off of his black vest. Mari was always a sucker for a good story, and while he would never, ever admit it to her, he had sat there with Tenkawa, waiting for the right moment in time, thinking to himself the best way to dramatize the whole experience into a grand story to tell his girlfriend. It wasn't to trick her or anything; he just simply wanted to entertain her while he told her about how he had lent a hand into the capture of two of the bloodiest killers of the century.

"I told you, we just sat around and waited." Of course, that didn't mean that what he came up with was any good. "We noticed that Kaguya kept Leaping in and out of the warehouse, but where she was going, we hadn't the slightest. But after the time passed, we finally heard Past Tenkawa and his friends bust in and wreak all sorts of havoc. We waited until we were sure that Past Tenkawa had taken the queen and Kaguya with him back to Peaceland, and then popped out from behind the crates and helped to restrain Erina and Leap her back to Peaceland as well."

"That's it?" Mari crossed her arms across her purple tank top. The middle of summer was a good time to see baseball in Japan, Saburota had come to find during his stay on Earth, and Mari was a big fan of the Yomiuri Giants, which was scrawled across her top. "You make history and that's all there is to the story?"

"Hey, we had to practically hold our breaths for three hours! And survive Yamada's out-of-control lightning storm that he used to disorient Erina. It would have been better if Tenkawa had actually warned me about that in the first place, now that I think of it..."

"He probably didn't because of the Martian thing. You shouldn't have told him about it."

"I didn't! Not really. I mean, I figured he was quick enough to see me there to help out, and hear my name, and put two and two together. I apologized in advance so that if he came at me, _he_ would look like the jerk."

Mari rolled her dark brown eyes and pulled herself from her couch, grabbing her purple bucket hat in the process. Placing it on her head to protect her eyes from the sun, she opened the doors to the balcony and stepped out onto it. She shielded her eyes with a hand and looked out into the bright blue sky that was her Earthling home. They only time she had ever left the planet was when she was on the Gardenia, an experience that was rapidly fading into just memories. She wondered if that was how it was for the Nadesico crew.

No. It was different for them. Most of them had stayed in touch with each other, while she was only really in touch with Saburota. She never saw Lapis or Hari anymore. And Erina and Kaguya... They were apparently too busy killing people to get together with her. She shook her head. Their captain and helmswoman. Who would have thought that they would have been the ones that were causing such tension between... well... many of the peoples of the system, now, she supposed? It may have been obvious to some, she assumed. Like the Nadesico crew. Erina was not loved on that ship after the revelation about the Jupiterians had come to pass. But it was not obvious to Mari. Mari had trusted them, and she was sure that Saburota had as well. Kaguya was the one that got them out of pinches, and Erina was the one that kept them on course. Why should she have looked to those that she trusted?

Who else couldn't she trust?

Mari blinked as a purple... something snuck under her nose. She bent her head down to see that it was a perfectly blooming rose, still slowly opening. She traced the stem all the way down to the hand that held it: Saburota's. Mari smiled at his attempts to look like a sad, kicked puppy-dog that wanted forgiveness. She brushed her fingertips on his face before kissing him. It was a chaste kiss, but it was not short. She pulled away and his eyes remained closed, his wide mouth turning into a slow smile of its own. She looked at the rose once more to discover why it was there. Her eyebrows knit together as she realized that her boyfriend had grown it himself, in his hands. Was growing it still, as she watched his spring-green nanocontroller pulse in bright light every few moments.

It killed her to contemplate it, but she couldn't help it. The same power that allowed for her boyfriend to grow her a delicate flower out of nothing was the same that allowed for him, the rest of the Jupiterians, some of the Ninlanders, the former pilots, and all of the Martians to Boson Jump. Kaguya was Martian. This pure, untainted power that her boyfriend wielded was also able to be wielded by those that were evil, even if she hadn't known it at the time. Kaguya was her captain. Kaguya was a killer. Kaguya was a Martian, and by definition, a Jumper.

She grabbed Saburota's right hand abruptly and made him drop the rose. It fell at her feet and began to die almost instantly. Saburota narrowed his eyes as he watched it fall, and then watched Mari's face. It was pinched and scrunched up, with slight tears welling up in the corners of her eyes. He brushed once away with his thumb and she let out a sob. She threw her arms around her neck and buried her face into his shoulder, openly crying. He narrowed his dark brown eyes, sympathetically patted her back, and secretly wondered what the hell was wrong. "What's the matter?" he asked calmly, trying to not worry.

"What's going to happen to you?" Mari squeaked out before dissolving back into tears. Saburota didn't ask her what she meant, at least, not right away. Instead, he let her cry and work out all of her sadness before he gave her the tough interrogation.

It took some time, but Saburota was able to lead her back inside, sit her back down on the couch, and get her to drink a glass of water. She cradled the empty glass in her hands before he took it from her and set it on the table before them. She sniffed as Saburota lifted her chin up with a finger. "Nothing's going to happen to me, Mari. We got them. Nobody else is going to die by their hands."

Mari shook her head, knocking her purple hat askew. Saburota removed it for her, smoothing her straight brown hair back down. "That's not what I meant! People... they aren't going to look at Erina and Kaguya as just bad people. They're going to look at how Kaguya is a Jumper, and then hate all of the Jumpers. I... I don't know what will happen." She sniffed again. She wanted, needed to cry some more, but she didn't have it in her.

Saburota sighed. She was worried about him. Terra, he loved this girl. "Listen, Mari. I sat around in the same room as two brutal murderers today, and nearly got electrocuted in the process. I've been a pilot since the Lizard War, during which I was a soldier. I'm not going to get into the sort of trouble you're worried about so easily. You don't need to worry about me."

"I can't help it."

"I know." Saburota smiled. "I worry about you all the time. Crazy, irrational worries. But I get through it anyway. And you will too." He hugged her close, actively ignoring how nice it felt to have her breasts press against his chest. "Nothing like that will happen. I promise. It will all be fine."

Mari sniffed and gave a weak smile. "I hope so. For both our sake's."

---

Peaceland did not have many courthouses, though they did have various jails. The reason for this was because, while crime was no lower than it was anywhere else, the Peaceland crimes were often settled out of court and the sentences carried out without too much concern or need for appeal. The reasons for this were unknown, but widely speculated upon. Some said that those who would be so brash as to commit such a high caliber crime in a place of entertainment must have had worse criminal trouble back wherever they came from, and were thus extradited back home. Others said that it had to do with the Peace Bank; the bank was in constant competition with tourism in being the leading source of income to the country, but was popular because of its money-laundering and ability to avoid income taxation. These people were right about one thing: the reason many issues were settled out of court or plead guilty to was because people wanted their bank accounts to be left unmolested.

Whatever the reason, it was part of the Peaceland judicial system to only use one of their own judges to handle anything that took place in Peaceland. The Peaceland verdict and sentences were often sent with the defendant where they got sent, since ninety percent of all arrested in Peaceland had to be extradited out of the neutral country.

It was partially because of Peaceland's neutrality (and partially because of Peaceland's undeniable aid in capturing them) that the first preliminary hearing for Erina Kinjo Won and Onikirimaru Kaguya took place there. The Jumper Murders had touched many people and more nations than a single assassination would. If Peaceland had simply extradited Erina and Kaguya to Jupiter, or Australia, or Ninlan, or Japan, then the two would probably never feel the bite of justice. Besides, Peaceland wanted a morsel for herself; they had attempted to kill both her queen and princess.

At first, there did not appear to be a reason to have a preliminary hearing when Akito and Saburota brought back both Kaguya and Erina. For the remainder of the week, attempts were made to make progress in making either one make a statement. But rather unlike Inez, they were both willing to give a statement; the problem was that Kaguya was claiming that Erina made her participate on pain of as brutal a death as their victims, and, surprise surprise, Erina was claiming that Kaguya did the same, only she was "in her head." Interrogators were becoming quite irritated. It was not a shocker, then, when one of them suggested questioning them in the same room to let them talk their way to the truth. This was not able to come to pass, however, as the lawyer for the Akatsuki family (of which Erina was a member) and for Nergal Heavy Industries (which had absorbed both Asuka Incorporated and the Crimson Group) had gotten involved.

Jitinder Munkir was the personal family lawyer of the Akatsuki family, which founded Nergal, and the head lawyer of the company, and thus was a very busy man, albeit a legal genius. He had simply arrived into the sheriff's office and all interrogation in regards to the murders came to a grinding halt. It wasn't quite clear how he did it, but eavesdroppers gossiped about how there had been no official announcement of charges, and thus, Erina and Kaguya couldn't be held as such by System Alliance law. There were some heated words about how Peaceland was not in the System Alliance and, by _Peaceland_ law, could not officially announce charges without judges from all of the affected districts assembled. The earliest that could happen wouldn't be until the following week, since judges from Jupiter, Australia, Ninlan, Japan, and Peaceland would have to convene.

"Well," Jitinder was reported to have said, "assemble them."

That's precisely what happened. The Peaceland Jump Shuttle had to be temporarily reopened so that those from the further nations and planets could quickly arrive, but, just as Sheriff Jacob Shaw had predicted, it had taken until that Monday, July twenty-ninth, for all five judges to arrive.

But the judges, the accused, and their counsel were not the only ones to arrive at the highest of Peaceland's courts. News crews for not just the system itself, but local reporters from each of the locales of the deaths were there as well. More than that, the closest friends and family of each of those killed were present, along with those that had helped at their own risk to apprehend those accused. Anyone well-versed in the course of events during the Lizard War would have been shocked at how many Nadesico crew members were present, but considering that Misumaru Yurika, one of the most recognizable and well-loved ship captains in recent history, was among those counted dead, it would not have been much of a surprise.

The only judge familiar with the courthouse was Chief Justice Inge Lindgaard. While Peaceland's Supreme Court was, predictably, reserved almost entirely for appeals, since Queen Gwynth Notsumote of Peaceland and Princess Notsumote Hoshino Ruri of Peaceland were among victims (though they had survived), it had been deemed appropriate to leap to the highest court for the judge that would represent Peaceland.

Flanking Chief Justice Lindgaard were Judge Elaniel Kyoo of Ninlan and Judge Kon'no Masami of Earth. Judge Kyoo had been contacted by the emperor of Ninlan himself to represent Ninlan's need for justice in the name of her former emperor. Judge Kon'no was actually a district judge from where Yurika and Jun had lived before Yurika was killed. To say the least, she was a bit star-struck being on the other side of the planet with all of these huge names, but she was also willing to do her job.

On the end next to the Ninlandish judge was Justice Miyazaki Mari of the Holy Jupiterian Empire. Like all Jupiterians, Justice Miyazaki was a Jumper, and one that could cause earthquakes with the snap of her fingers. It was not surprising that she had been seated next to Judge Kyoo, as she too was a Jumper, and a Copy mage at that. Chief Justice Lindgaard would later claim that it was a help to have the experience of two Jumpers involved in the deciding of the case, but everyone present was more than aware that the Peaceland government, which was less than kind to Jumpers, had their hands tied in this respect.

The last judge came to represent not Tenician Island, where Aqua Crimson was killed, as it was a private island, but instead Aqua's heritage as an Australian. Judge Paul Stevens of Earth was young, but not inexperienced when it came to such criminal matters. The seating of this man next to Judge Kon'no would leave the Jumpers and non-Jumpers separated by the judge from Peaceland, a supposedly neutral country. The symbolism was not lost on the reporters, who took great lengths to dramatize the whole event.

Although, they would be pleased to discover, they did not need to dramatize it any more than it already would be.

Of the two of them, Kaguya was the calmer. Every attempt to interrogate Erina resulted in her flailing about and trying to break free of her bonds, screaming at the top of her lungs. Kaguya, on the other hand, would sit still, and only showed her fright for the consequences of her actions with her shuddering breath and tears rolling down her cheeks. Therefore, Kaguya was the first to be brought before the court.

Kaguya entered the courtroom without as much as a word. The dark green jumpsuit made her obscenely pale skin look even paler. Her purple hair was tied loosely back at the nape of her neck, and bags that matched it in color dragged her lower eyelids down, showing her nearly dead dark brown eyes to the sketch artists in the room. She was led to her seat before all five judges, most of which glared down at her with disdain. Chief Justice Lindgaard rustled some papers while Jitinder whispered some last minute advice to one of his most important clients. Finally, Chief Justice Lindgaard put on his translator headphones, a motion that prompted the rest of the room to do the same. While the majority of the room was fluent in Japanese, Chief Justice Lindgaard was not, and any manner of language could have been used with such a variety of ethnicities and nationalities present. Jitinder helped Kaguya put her own headphones over her ears as her wrists were chained to her waist. Almost immediately after, Chief Justice Lindgaard began to speak.

"Onikirimaru Kaguya of Mars, former captain of the Gardenia and chairwoman of Asuka Incorporated prior to its absorption by Nergal Heavy Industries. You stand before the courts of the Holy Jupiterian Empire, the Empire of Ninlan, the Kingdom of Peaceland, and the System-Allied nations of Australia and Japan on this twenty-ninth day of July in this year of 2199. Are you prepared to hear the charges against you?"

"Yes, Your Honor." While her exterior showed her to be frightened, her hands clenching and unclenching, her voice was steady and perceptively calm.

"Your charges, Miss Onikirimaru, are numerous and grievous in nature, the worst of which include one count of assassination, three counts of premeditated murder, two counts of attempted assassination, and one count of abduction of a monarch of the country of Peaceland. All of these crimes are considered as such in all of the allied nations or empires in which they were committed. Do you understand these charges against you?"

"Yes, Your Honor."

"You have been caught in the act of attempting to kill Princess Notsumote Hoshino Ruri of Peaceland, aided in the abduction of Queen Gwynth Notsumote of Peaceland, and were present in the attemptive murder of the Peaceland queen. Of these charges, you have been found undeniably guilty in the eyes of Peaceland justice. However, your sentences may be affected by your explanation today. Do you and your counsel understand this?"

This time, Kaguya's answer took a moment, as she had to sit down and confer with Jitinder. However, she stood back up and said, quite confidently, "Yes, Your Honor, we both understand."

Chief Justice Lindgaard moved more papers around, and then passed copies of one to each of the other four judges. "This is not a regular trial or hearing; in fact, the organization of this gathering is quite unprecedented to be sure. Therefore, for each of these charges, we cannot ask for a plea from you at this time. Instead, we have heard of both you and your partner being uncooperative in regards to your sides of the story. Could you please for the sake of the court, tell what you have to say about this mess?"

"I would love to, Your Honor." Jitinder's dark brows knit and he reached over to tug on the dark green jumpsuit, but Kaguya gracefully moved out of range. She cleared her throat and licked her lips before looking up into Chief Justice Lindgaard's round black eyes with her bloodshot ones. "You see, I didn't kill anyone."

The courtroom erupted in loud shouts, the loudest of which seemed to come from a woman whose red hair now whipped around her face with the sudden fierce blowing of the air conditioner, "Like hell you didn't, you Aer-damned bitch!" Chief Justice Lindgaard pounded his gavel, his previously soft voice rising up into a roar. "Order! Order! I will have order in this court or I will turn you out myself!" As most, if not all of those present were merely there to find out how this all came to a head, their shouting slowed and quieted to a murmur before falling entirely silent. Chief Justice Lindgaard threaded his fingers together, then steepled them at his lips. "Please, Miss Onikirimaru: continue."

Kaguya bowed her head, loose strands of her purple hair sliding in front of her. She took a deep breath, and appeared to be fighting to keep her voice steady. "I, personally, have not killed anyone. But I know that it was through my actions that many people did die." She let out a humorless snort. "There would be those that would consider that to be murder on its own. But all I have ever done was Boson Jump with the true killer in tow." She shook her head. "Jump, Leap, Teleport, whatever you call it, it is an ability given to us by our ancestors. To use it is not a crime. But, even I would admit, it is a crime to abuse it so, using it to travel anywhere, to harm others. But... I had no choice." She swallowed and sniffed, and then licked her lips as a pair of tears tracked down her cheeks. "You... you don't know what she would have done to me!" She fell silent, sitting down and allowing Jitinder to mop up her face, which was steadily reddening.

Once her face was clean of tears and mucus, she stood again, and faced her condemners with a tightened jaw. "Erina Kinjo Won is a merciless killer from a long line of merciless killers. She did not want the Lizard War to end. So she killed Vice Admiral Kusakabe Haruki of Jupiter. The war did not begin again. She looked to increase her own holdings in the corporate world, and to start the war again. So she killed Aqua Crimson of Earth. She gained the power and influence of the Crimson Group, but the war did not begin again. She looked to pull Ninlan into the conflict, so she killed the former emperor, Lord Mythos Entrada of Ninlan. The war did not begin again. She looked to antagonize the military, and specifically the crew of the Nadesico, so she killed the former captain of the Nadesico, Misumaru Yurika. And still, the war did not begin."

Chief Justice Lindgaard silenced the girl by lifting a nut-brown hand. "Why include Peaceland, then, Miss Onikirimaru? Peaceland is a neutral country, and will remain that way."

"Your Honor, I believe she had hoped to pull Peaceland out of its neutrality. A last attempt for her war, I suppose."

Chief Justice Lindgaard nodded as he wrote something down on a pad before him. Judge Kon'no, a very short woman, turned to the chief justice. "If I may?"

Chief Justice Lindgaard held out a hand in front of him. "Please."

Judge Kon'no nodded curtly at him and then turned her slitted eyes toward the Martian woman. "You say you were forced into providing, dare I say it, _transportation_ to Erina Kinjo Won, whom you claim was the one who performed the actual murders. How was it that you were forced?"

Kaguya pursed her lips together and seemed to stare off into the distance. After a few moments of this, Jitinder stood up and began to speak. "Your Honor--"

"No!" Kaguya suddenly interrupted, startling her lawyer. Jitinder sat back down, dumbfounded. "No. I... I can tell them." She took a deep breath. "She threatened to kill me. Not just kill me... she threatened to torture me, and then only kill me when she had finished having her fun with me. She threatened to rip out my eyeballs if I did not Jump her where she wanted to go. She said she would cut off my legs if I told anyone. She said... She threatened..." Kaguya swallowed. "She said that Nergal was studying space pneumonia, and that she had access to their deadliest strain." She looked Judge Kon'no right in her plum-colored eyes. "She said she would infect me, run tests on me, and then leave me to rot in a cell." Kaguya snorted once more. "I still think that one was just to scare me, since my parents were lost to the disease."

Judge Kyoo held up a white hand. "Wait. Let me see if I understand this. You didn't believe her threats?"

Kaguya shook her head. "Not at first. Not until she killed Kusakabe Haruki."

"Then... why did you help her with the first murder?"

Kaguya sighed, and looked to the side. "Because I love her. Even now, after she's frightened me and after I've seen what she can do... I still love her."

The judges began to murmur amongst themselves, to the great agitation of both the court recorders and the news reporters, but after nearly ten minutes, Chief Justice Lindgaard addressed Kaguya once more. "This is off the record, unofficially, and due to be under a great deal of review, but at this time, it is our collective preliminary opinion that all charges save for that of being an accessory to the assassination of Vice Admiral Kusakabe Haruki of Jupiter. However," he said, looking over his spectacles at the slightly relieved face of the former Gardenia captain, "this is prior to our analysis of the one you claim was key in the deaths we have discussed." He stared down the Martian woman until she sat back down. "Bailiff! Send in Miss Won."

From a side door entered two guards that held down Erina Kinjo Won's arms. She was dressed in a dark green jumpsuit identical to Kaguya's, and the long trail of black hair was loosely tied, just like her accomplice's. However, her hair was more disheveled, and the short hair from the tips of her ears to the peak of her forehead was distressed by her thrashing her head from side to side. That was why she had guards leading her to her seat at the same long table as Kaguya and Jitinder. Her dark brown eyes widened as she saw Kaguya, and she fought the guards as best she could with her hands chained to her waist like Kaguya's. She kicked and thrashed her legs, losing one of the white sneakers she was wearing. She grunted and gritted her teeth, trying to make herself heavy and make the guards have to drag her along the wood floor of the Peaceland courtroom. She cried out incoherent babbles. "No! I don't want to be near-- Oh God, why won't you listen? It was Kaguya! She Jumped us there and killed them all!" She carried on for a moment more, and just as Chief Justice Lindgaard was reaching for his gavel, she suddenly quieted. She sat up straight and silent with a slight smile on her eerily pale lips, her shoulders back and her hands folded in her lap. The transformation was so sudden that Chief Justice Lindgaard had narrowed his black eyes in alarm and puzzlement. "M-Miss Won?"

"Yes, You Honor?" Her voice was hoarse with her previous screaming, but now it was very steady and calm. Her eyes reflected the light from the fluorescent lamps hanging from the high ceiling of the courtroom. The courtroom was more silent than the open and empty ocean. No one seemed to know how to take in this drastic change in attitude. Emperor Rumiko Adagio of Ninlan's nostrils flared, searching for a scent of some sort of sorcery, but all he could smell was the scent of explosives, a scent that he couldn't help but attribute to Amano Hikaru. She had once explained that it was her art supplies that smelled like spent gunpowder, but it was a smell that not only permeated her, but also her power. Rumiko could not smell anything else. He pursed his lips and turned his attention back to the judges and the accused. He was probably just paranoid.

Chief Justice Lindgaard visibly swallowed. "Erina Kinjo Won of Earth, former cohelmswoman of the Nadesico and former helmswoman of the Gardenia, and chairwoman of Nergal Heavy Industries. You stand before the courts of the Holy Jupiterian Empire, the Empire of Ninlan, the Kingdom of Peaceland, and the System-Allied nations of Australia and Japan on this twenty-ninth day of July in this year of 2199. Are you prepared to hear the charges against you?"

"Yes, Your Honor." While Kaguya had only attempted to keep her voice steady and without emotion, Erina actually mastered it, the only expression of her feelings within that humorless, almost malicious smile. Even Chief Justice Lindgaard appeared to be taken aback by this tone of hers as he began to speak the same words as he did to Kaguya.

"Miss Won, your charges are numerous and grievous in nature, the worst of which include one count of assassination, three counts of premeditated murder, two counts of attempted assassination, and one count of abduction of a monarch of the country of Peaceland. All of these crimes are considered as such in all of the allied nations or empires in which they were committed. Do you understand these charges against you, Miss Won?"

"Most certainly, Your Honor."

"You have been caught in the act of attempting to kill Princess Notsumote Hoshino Ruri of Peaceland, abducting Queen Gwynth Notsumote of Peaceland, and then attempting to kill the Peaceland queen. Of these charges, you have been found undeniably guilty in the eyes of Peaceland justice. However, your sentences may be affected by your explanation today. Do you and your counsel understand this?"

"Yes, Your Honor." Surprising especially Jitinder, Erina immediately answered the question without even conferring with her lawyer. Anyone seated near the front would have been able to hear Jitinder squeak out, "What are you _doing_?!" to Erina, but she did not respond.

"Good." Chief Justice Lindgaard licked his lips. "Now, Miss Won--"

"Call me Erina," she interrupted, tossing her head to the side to shake her black bangs out of her face.

"Miss Won," emphasized Chief Justice Lindgaard, pushing his spectacles back up his nose, "I certainly hope you understand the gravity of your actions and of the crimes of which you have been accused."

"I do, Your Honor."

"Then you will interrupt me no longer." His voice remained soft, but in the quiet, echoing room, it seemed to bounce off every piece of furniture, every wall, and into every ear as much louder than it began. He waited a moment more, and then opened a folder on the surface before him. "Now, Miss Won. I have already explained to your partner and the court how this hearing is preliminary and the decisions made today may or may not have any bearing on your official trials or any sentences. Is this clear, Miss Won?"

"Perfectly, Your Honor."

"Then, if you please, explain to the court, the judges seated with me, and those who have been antagonized by these actions you and your partner may or may not have performed why you are here."

Erina's smile turned into more of a smirk as she began to shake her shoulders. Her shuddering shoulders soon were upstaged by her soft giggling, which themselves were swallowed by roaring, shrieking laughter. No one spoke, but most shifted in their seats uncomfortably. She spoke in between her chortles. "'May or may not'? Your Honor, you speak as if Kaguya and I have not already been found 'undeniably guilty' in your eyes of all named crimes!"

This time, as he reached over for a fistful of green jumpsuit, Jitinder's voice was clearly audible. "Erina, for the love of God, what are you doing?!"

Erina stopped laughing as Jitinder clutched her clothing. She twisted and slapped his hand away. "Keep quiet, Jitinder; I know _exactly_ what I'm doing." She turned back to the quintet of judges from all around the system. "The thing is, you pompous asses are more than content to assume we are guilty, to lock us away and throw away the key. And do you know what? You wouldn't be wrong." Possibly proving her point, Jitinder was the only one to gasp. "You see, Your Honors, I did kill them all. Vice Admiral Kusakabe Haruki of Jupiter. Aqua Crimson of Earth. Lord Mythos Entrada of Ninlan. Captain Misumaru Yurika of Mars. And I wanted to kill your precious Peaceland princess, who used to be my--mind you, _my_--property." She shrugged. "The only reason I didn't kill the queen was because I didn't need _her._ I needed Ruri."

"You awful snake of a woman," came from the heavily accent lilt of Judge Stevens. "All it takes is an awful accident or even a fit of rage for one to kill once. It takes a certain type of cruelty to be able to not kill once or twice, but four times, and to attempt to kill a child as well."

Erina's teeth were white, and the sight of them blended with the skin of her pale lips. "Why, Your Honor, what a pleasant compliment." She gasped suddenly and deeply, her eyes rolling back in her head as she sank into her seat. Jitinder rose to his feet, but now it was Erina clutching the light blue fabric of his dress shirt. "Jitinder, I'm so sorry." He had no chance to respond before she pulled herself shakily to her feet. "Your Honors, I didn't kill anyone," she wheezed out, her face growing red as she began to sob. Her head suddenly jerked sharply to the right, and then the smile came back. "Of course I did. I killed them all, and in some of the most brutal ways I could imagine."

"Miss Won?" Chief Justice Lindgaard asked tentatively. "Are you all right?"

"Yes. I'm fine." Her head twitched once more and her loud, racking sobs filled the courtroom. "No! Don't believe... me! Don't believe what I say! Oh God, get out of my head!"

The judges all looked amongst each other, and then Chief Justice Lindgaard adjusted his spectacles again. "I propose that we reschedule our examination of Miss Won until a later date; at least until she can get a hold of herself, mentally. Is there any opposition?"

"There most definitely is," spoke up the judge representing Jupiter, Justice Miyazaki. She narrowed her beady brown eyes to the nearly convulsing Nergal chairwoman. "My people have long felt anger and a desire for revenge on Earth for her actions during the War for Lunar Autonomy. For a century we emboldened our anger, embraced it. Finally, Jupiter can rest and feel peace. According to Miss Onikirimaru," Justice Miyazaki spat out the name of the Martian woman like a fruit seed, "the reason, the motive for all of this heartless killing was to embroil our world in bitter war again. Tell me, Miss Won, is this true?"

"_No!_ It isn't--" Erina's words stopped as her throat constricted and felt strangled. She clenched and unclenched her fists to fight against the chains holding them there, to reach her neck, but suddenly it was gone and she was wheezing for breath. She sank slowly into her chair and did not look Justice Miyazaki in the eye as she spoke. "Yes," she whispered. Then she repeated it louder. "Yes. I wanted the Lizard War to go on for as long as I could make it. And who wouldn't, in my position? Nergal was making tons of money because of the war. It would be a fool to call himself a businessman and to want peace instead of profits." She looked up at her again, her eyes shining. "And you know what? The only reason I killed Yurika is because she was the one who ended my lovely little war."

Justice Miyazaki leaned back in her seat and shook her head slowly. Chief Justice Lindgaard spoke the words she was too stunned to say. "Get her out of my sight."

The guards and bailiffs seized her arms, and she jumped up and down and kicked her legs. "No! Oh please! Listen to me! Oh God! _I didn't kill anyone!"_ She shook her head violently as she screamed, so when she spasmed once more, it went unnoticed by those that had all of her limbs in their grip, carrying her slowly out of the courtroom. She began to laugh harshly and humorlessly before she was pulled out of the courtroom. "I'm the one who has caused all of this craziness! Me! And I would kill them all again! I'm the madness that lies in the hearts of men! I'm your madness!"

Chief Justice Lindgaard kept his thin white eyebrows together as he made his final notes. He gathered his pages into one pile, and then slammed down the gavel once. "This court is adjourned." He straightened his papers and files by picking them up and hitting the ends on the table.

---

After the seemingly too-short hearing (or perhaps it was an honest plea trial, he wasn't sure; Rumiko never really understood even his own country's judicial system) Rumiko found himself wandering the gardens outside of Peaceland's few and far between courthouses. He had left his wife to converse with the friends she had made long before they had met, choosing instead to admire the elaborate floral arrangements outside the building in which more than one fate had been decided over the years, and would be decided for certain as time went on.

At least, that's what he told Megan.

While he did allow himself to contemplate the largely leafed plants and flowers nearing the end of their days, it was not Peaceland's carefully cultivated and universal beauty that drew him outside and away from those he would call--dare he say it--friends. Instead, it was the completion of the task that had been set before him for so many months, since the day he married Megan.

The only reason he had begun the chase for what system-wide news reporters called the "Jumper Murderers", despite the fact that they also killed Aqua Crimson, who was no mage or Teleporter, was because of the death of Mythos Entrada on the day of his marriage.

Mythos Entrada had, at first, been someone Rumiko could not help but hate. As the former emperor of Ninlan, Mythos had been chosen by Magus to rule the planet, not by all five gods as previous tradition had required. More than that, he had set up the magical tests and slaughter of Elemental mages, including Rumiko's own twin sister. But it did not take Rumiko long to see the wisdom in thinking not with his emotions but instead with his logic; Mythos would have made an invaluable advisor with his experience as the previous emperor.

It was through these exchanges that Rumiko had come to learn that Mythos was not an evil, inconsiderate, or even rude man. He simply had believed in his god and what his god told him. And Rumiko was not much different, subject to the whims of all five rather than just one. They did not take long to put the Magus-dominated past behind them for a brighter tomorrow.

He had presided over Rumiko's wedding, dammit. And now he had been killed. It still made Rumiko angry to think about it. Not just sad at the loss of an invaluable friend, but angry that someone would do such an insulting act, on _his _wedding day.

But now... those he had once trusted had been captured, and awaited the long and arduous process toward what he hoped was a just punishment for what trouble they had caused those they used to consider friends. And for what? To make a silly war that had been over for a long time now continue? Ninlan was not discovered at the time of the Lizard War, but Rumiko was more than aware of the tensions that plagued Earthling and Jupiterian relations. More than that, Rumiko felt that, although no one had blatantly said it, they were wishing for Ninlan to choose a side, which he was not sure he could do.

Still, it was this sort of thinking that really hit home with Rumiko. He was no longer focused on satisfying his pride and avenging Mythos. Instead, he was thinking like an emperor. The leader of a nation. It was something Megan had been lecturing him about since they were married. But instead, he looked to satisfy his own bruised pride. But no more. Now, Rumiko could finally rest and do what he was meant to: lead his empire into the modern age.

Rumiko smiled at the sight of the only instance of a certain fringed pink flower he had seen. He recognized it simply because Megan always kept some growing in the Ecclesiastical Palace's greenhouses. Dianthus superbus, he thought to himself. _Nadesicos._ He bent down to take in the sweet scent of the lilac pink flowers when a slight movement in the corner of his eye caught his attention. He looked up to see a young, pale man with dark blue hair dressed in all black. He was looking up into the mostly cloudy sky. Rumiko was not entirely clear about how weather on Earth worked, but if that sky was on Ninlan, he would assume it was threatening to rain. Still, the way that the man leaned against a bit of the wrought iron fencing that circled the gardens made it very clear who he was: Aoi Jun of Earth, one of his former students, and, as Rumiko considered, possibly the one to have lost the most with the actions of Erina and Kaguya.

Rumiko pulled himself up and walked slowly up to Jun. The crunch of the pathway's gravel under his gray shoes attracted the attention of the Earthling fire mage, and he turned quickly to see who it was, his eyes widened and blue brows knit. Once he recognized Rumiko, however, his face relaxed and he turned back to looking over the landscape.

Rumiko brought his own black brows together. The view wasn't very riveting: it was mostly green with landmarks even the foreign emperor knew were stolen from other places. Instead, he supposed that Jun was simply staring off into space. Not that Rumiko could blame him. For what it was worth, Rumiko couldn't help but understand why Jun was so silent and closed. Rumiko knew that if Megan had been amongst those killed, he would... probably just be angrier than he was about Mythos's death. Rumiko wet his lips with his tongue. Perhaps he didn't truly understand how Jun felt. Jun wasn't angry, or at least he didn't appear to be. Rumiko didn't know why he wasn't.

Rumiko took a deep breath, and then joined Jun at the fence, unceremoniously resting his arms on it. He pointed out of the garden with his chin. "On Ninlan, those skies usually mean that it's going to rain. I believe it's humid enough for it."

Jun hummed and nodded. He hooked a strand of dark blue hair behind an ear. "It doesn't rain very long in Peaceland." A humorless smile marred his almost feminine face. "Small talk does not become you, Your Excellency."

Rumiko rolled his amber eyes. "We have more history than that. Your friends call me by my first name; I don't see why you cannot." Jun didn't respond, instead choosing to study the horizon. Rumiko wondered if he had said the wrong thing, but then decided that it wasn't worth worrying about. From what he remembered when he taught Jun and the rest of his close friends how to master and control their magic, Jun was always a somewhat serious person. He could laugh, of course; even Rumiko could barely hold in his chuckles at some of his students' antics, but Jun was not really someone to go out of his way to make a joke.

"I have to thank you," Jun suddenly intoned softly, breaking the silence. He looked over at Rumiko. "For tracking them down."

Rumiko was taken aback, but let a small smile tug at his lips. "Your friends did more than I, I think."

Jun shook his head. "Perhaps. And I'll be thanking them for a long time to come, I'm sure. But..." He sighed. "You put in a lot of effort. Thank you."

Rumiko narrowed his eyes. "I... I didn't do it for Miss Misumaru."

"I know." The reply was short, and Rumiko hoped he hadn't offended the man who was a widower in all but marital status. "I know," he repeated. "You thought she was one of the killers herself."

"Jun, I--"

Jun shook his head. "It doesn't matter anymore. Don't worry about it. She... she's in a better place now."

Rumiko shut his eyes, feeling shame creep into his pale cheeks in the form of redness. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry for accusing her. If I hadn't... she might be here today. I hope that one day you can forgive me."

"I do." Rumiko reopened his eyes and narrowed them as he stared at Jun in surprise. "I do forgive you." Jun sighed again. "This... isn't the time to be angry. At anyone." Jun paused, and then smiled a tiny bit, almost unnoticeable. Rumiko would have missed it if he wasn't closely watching all of Jun's expressions to help in interpreting his words. "I'm not even angry with Kaguya and Erina."

"What?!" More than a few pigeons vacated a nearby tree, frightened by Rumiko's shout. Rumiko winced himself at how his words echoed across the overglamourized tourist attraction of a countryside. "How can you not be angry with them?"

"Because I'm not. I'm just... not. In fact..." Jun turned away from Rumiko, "I'm just beginning to stop being angry with myself."

Rumiko narrowed his eyes and shifted his weight on his feet. "Yourself?"

Jun nodded. "I'm not very angry with them because... all they did was take away something that I had only so recently before gained, but had already begun to take for granted." Jun looked Rumiko in the eye. "That's why I am madder at myself. I... I took Yurika for granted. And then she was stolen from me, never to be recovered. I wonder, at night. What if I hadn't gone to be in my band? What if I had stayed? What if she had never broken up with Erina? But... such questions don't lead to anything but regret. And I have enough regrets. I've only begun to... let go of them."

For as crazy as it sounded, Rumiko couldn't help but think that Jun was absolutely right. He hadn't really mourned Mythos's death; instead, he was angry that he hadn't had a chance to really become very good friends with the former emperor. He wasn't angry because of the insult at his own wedding, he was angry because he hadn't had the chance to really be able to enjoy his time that he had with the deceased advisor. Now, for the first time, Rumiko felt a deep sorrow that he didn't think he was capable of feeling again, a sorrow he thought was reserved only for his dead twin sister. Rumiko left the fence as he felt his eyes begin to tear up and his nose congest, finding a nearby stone bench and sitting upon it. Already, there were little wet spots on the surface of the bench, denoting the present sprinkling. Jun watched him go, and Rumiko was surprised to see him still watching him as Rumiko looked up. The emperor of Ninlan sniffed and quickly wiped his eyes. "How can you forgive yourself for that? For... taking those around you for granted?"

Jun smiled, for real this time. It was a nice smile, and unlike all of his previous ones, it actually reached his eyes, lighting them up with a mirth that Rumiko was surprised someone like him could feel after such an awful ordeal. "By taking this opportunity to enjoy those who are still standing. By not taking any of them or their kindnesses for granted. By learning from this curveball life threw us." Jun turned away, leaning against the fence once more.

The silence between them was drowned out by the sudden downpour of rain, which soaked them both. Rumiko did not take any motions to run for shelter; a bit of rain never hurt anyone. Besides, he was starting to look at things a bit differently, starting with this rain. Mythos would never feel the rain again. It was only right that he take the chance to feel it, taste it, and smell it, because it could be taken away from him at any time. Rumiko felt a bit dizzy with this new look on life. It was so sudden that he wanted to run off and tell Megan all about it, but he also wanted to just sit and contemplate it, give it the more time and thought it deserved.

If it had not been raining, Rumiko would have been able to hear Jun humming. He didn't even Jun whisper the last line of his little song to himself. "Going your days, grow up."

---

THE END

Author's Note: So. I'm your Madness is over, clocking in at 773 pages. I've been writing it for over four years now, and it's finally finished. Many may have had their speculations proven from the start, but let me tell you, you may still be wrong. After all, although this book may have taken a very long time to be completed, the story is not over yet. The Broken Reasons series isn't over by a longshot. The next book will be going by the name Unstable Balance, but it may not be started for a while. I think I may need to take a break from this world that I've made mostly my own. I'd like to thank the creators of Nadesico for making such a wonderful series and character, my friends for supporting me all throughout my writing projects, and particularly my readers, because without you... I would probably still write the story, but it would be at a much lower quality. Thank you for sticking with me all these years while I wrote this story, and I hope you'll read more from me in the future.

February 27, 2003 - June 17, 2007


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